t 


$      H,  lG-t=t  <x 


-Q  :» aa 


REMINISCENCES 


OF  THE 


HAPPY  LIFE 


TEACHER,. 


ALFRED    HOLBROOK 


CINCINNATI: 

Elm  Strict  Printing  Company,  Nos.  176  &  178  Elm  St. 
1885. 


Entered  aocordfcig  Jt<j  ^J6{  if  fcongriss,  in  £be  yea*  1885,  by 

ALFRED  HOLBROOK, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


PREFACE. 


AFTER  my  children  had  teased  me  for  many  years  to  write 
out  the  incidents  of  my  life,  and  I  had  demurred,  it  was  sug- 
gested by  one  of  them  :  "  Why,  papa,  wouldn't  you  like  to  have 
the  life  of  your  father,  with  his  experiences?"  "Most  as- 
suredly." "Then  think  how  your  children  and  grandchildren 
will  prize  your  experiences  and  your  triumphs." 

To  this  I  succumbed,  and  set  about  writing  these  "  remi- 
niscences." 

They  may  or  may  not  be  valuable,  or  interesting  to  some  of 
my  seventy  thousand  pupils.  I  hope  they  may. 

Writing  amid  the  pressure  of  business  cares,  I  have  en- 
deavored to  introduce  such  facts  as  may  exemplify  my  theory  of 
^Education,  of  Teaching  and  School  Management.  Possibly  the 
narrations  of  those  difficulties,  common  more  or  less  to  all 
teachers,  and  the  ways  by  which  such  difficulties  were  con- 
verted into  means  of  my  continued  success,  may  arouse  some 
discouraged  teacher  "  to  take  heart  again"  and  feel  that  he 
•can  use  similar  plans  to  save  and  bless  his  pupils,  to  establish 
his  own  goings. 

For  my  innovations  upon  the  general  plan  of  education,  I 
have  come  in  for  the  personal  denunciations  and  maledictions 
of  many  college  men  from  time  to  time.  I  can  safely  say  that 
while  I  have  freely  attacked  the  usages  and  abuses  so  prevalent 
in  colleges,  I  have  never  permitted  myself  to  speak  disrespect- 
fully or  unkindly  of  any  college  man.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  very  few  college  men  that  I  do  not  most  thoroughly 
respect,  and  among  my  best  friends  I  have  always  numbered 
many  college  graduates.  But  they  are  those  who  have  ac- 
quainted themselves  with  my  work,  and  who  have  discovered, 
more  good  than  evil  in  my  efforts  to  do  my  duty  in  my  own 
way. 

(Hi) 

\ 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GENEALOGY. 

How  I  found  the  line  of  my  ancestry — Descent  and  descend- 
ants—Of good  Puritan  stock — Conjugal  devotion— My  first  recol- 
lections of  Melissa  Pierson--Holbrooks  and  Piersons  settle  on 
the  Western  Reserve — Melissa's  return  in  after  years — Melissa 
Craft  and  Melissa  Pierson  two  rare  examples  of  piety — Their  in- 
fluence on  my  life. 

CHAPTER  II. 

AT   GROTON,    MASSACHUSETTS. 

A  pupil  under  Elizur  Wight — My  father's  Scientific  Lectures 
— John  Todd's  story-telling — Early  mechanical  training — A  co- 
incidence. 

CHAPTER  III. 

LIEE  IN  BOSTON. 

My  father  a  Yale  graduate  ;  a  student  under  Prof.  Silliman — • 
Failure  of  Colleges  in  scientific  training  then  and  now — The 
first  Manual  Labor  School — Lyceum  System  introduced — The 
origin  of  Holbrook's  apparatus — Why  I  did  not  go  to  Col- 
lege— Day's  Algebra  mastered  in  morning  hours — My  experience 
in  the  best  school  in  Boston — Lowell  Mason  and  his  sons — 
Daniel  Webster  in  a  storm — Dr.  Lyman  Beecher's  church  burned 
— His  power — A  remarkable  snow-storm — A  sad  love  story — My 
father's  educational  labors — He  secured  the  first  geological  sur- 
vey in  the  United  States. 

(iv) 


CONTENTS.  V 

CHAPTER  IV. 
MY  TEACHERS. 

I  am  taught  to  read  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  at  three  years  of 
age — Early  punishments — Old  time  district  school — My  father 
a  good  Normalite — Victims  of  the  College  fetich — My  only  whip- 
ping at  school — Distinguished  teachers :  Elizur  Wight,  Dr. 
John  Todd,  Dr.  Samuel  Beech,  Zephaniah  Swift — The  Puritan 
Sabbath — Repeal  of  the  Blue  Laws — I  am  guilty  of  breaking 
the  Sabbath  -Grandfather  Swift's  home  a  "  Ministers'  Tavern" 
— Signing  the  Temperance  pledge — Rum-drinking  deacons — A 
sad  case — My  childhood  recollections  of  College  Professors — 
Puritan  customs — Grandfather  Holbrook's  high  moral  charac- 
ter and  business  energy — My  father  as  my  teacher— His  "drawing 
out"  system — Our  familiarity  with  prominent  places,  men  and 
"books — Sights  in  the  Boston  Museum — Reading,  and  reading — 
(A  story  to  tell) — Object-lesson  teaching  —My  father's  advanced 
views  of  Education — My  attitude  toward  colleges  and  college 
men — My  educational  views  an  inheritance — Some  lessons  in 
mechanics  and  business  practices. 

CHAPTER  V. 

STAMFORD. 

A  short  chapter  of  stories. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

MY   FIRST   SCHOOL. 

Engaged  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  on  my  own  conditions,  to 
teach  a  country  school — My  examination  quickly  accomplished 
— Efficacy  of  muscular  Christianity  shown  in  my  first  day's 
teaching — Pouring  in  and  drawing  out  methods  tested — The 
first  preliminary  drill in  class-work — The  first  blackboard  used — 
Am  I  the  teacher  or  my  patrons  ? — Boarding  'round — How  we 
enjoyed  it — Teaching  a  delight  in  its  triumphs — Our  Literary 
Society — School  Directors'  dodges — A  lesson  in  learning  and 
teaching  the  modern  languages. 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

MY   EXPERIENCES  IN   NEW  YORK   CITY. 

Preparatory  work  in  engineering — Social  environments — Relig- 
ious discussions — Theater-going  —  Five  Points — 111  health — 
Horace  Greeley — Evenings  employed  in  reading — Attendance 
upon  lectures — Conversation  with  an  intelligent  Catholic — 
Arthur  Tappan — New  York  fire,  1836 — Mr.  Finney's  preaching  ^ 
effects  upon  me. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

MELISSA  AND   I. 
Our  early  training — Our  love  story — Her  character  and  work. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

A   REMINISCENCE   IN    BEREA. 

First  Institutes  in  Ohio  —  My  first  Institute — Eastern  and 
Western  hospitality  forty  years  ago — Melissa's  prophets'  chamber, 

CHAPTER  X. 

SOME  REMINISCENCES  OF  JOHN  BALDWIN. 
Berea  community — Lyceum  village — Discovery  and  sale  of 
Berea  grindstone — I  am  entrapped — Resignation — Removal  to 
Chardon — Gifts  of  house  and  lot — A  characteristic  incident  of 
Mr.  B — His  keen  appreciation  of  good  school  management — 
Encounter  with  the  doctors — Our  last  meeting. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

EXPERIENCES  AT   CHARDON,    O. 

Self-reporting  system  discussed — A  woman's  enterprise — Gov. 
Corwin's  oratory — Providential  interference  in  my  behalf — Dis- 
honesty a  growing  evil  among  teachers — Purchase  of  $2,500 
worth  of  apparatus — 111  health  the  cause  of  closing  school — 
Partnership  with  Dr.  Nicholls. 

( Contents  continued  on  /.  358.) 


Reminiscences  of  Alfred  tyolbrook, 


CHAPTER  I. 


GENEALOGY. 

IN  tumbling  over  the  rubbish,  one  rainy  day, 
in  the  garret  of  the  house  in  which  I  was  born, 
built  by  my  great-great-grandfather,  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  I  found  a  copy-book,  written 
by  my  grandfather,  Daniel  Holbrook.  Besides 
many  pages  of  manuscript,  written  from  copies 
apparently,  at  school,  there  were  other  pages  of 
miscellaneous  matter,  chiefly  historical,  relating  to 
the  settlement  of  Derby,  Connecticut,  and  the 
part  the  Holbrook  family  had  had  in  the  growth 
of  the  town. 

My  grandfather  wrote  a  large,  round,  beautiful 
hand,  more  legible  than  print.  The  manuscript 
was  probably  over  sixty  years  old,  and  it  is  nearly 
sixty  years  since  I  found  it. 

The  genealogy  of  the  Holbrooks  was  given  thus, 
somewhat :  Among  the  twenty-three  families  that 
formed  the  first  organization  of  the  township  of 

(7) 


8  REMINISCENCES. 

Derby,  I  find  Stephen  Pierson  and  Deacon  Abel 
Holbrook.  This  was  in  1675.  These  twenty- 
three  families  had  already  settled  a  minister,  built 
him  a  house,  also  a  meeting-house,  costing  £100, 
pledged  him  a  support  by  taxation  on  their  lands, 
besides  paying  their  proportion  in  supporting  a 
minister  at  Milford,  whence  most  of  them  had  re- 
moved. 

This  ancestor,  Abel  Holbrook,  had  previously 
been  accustomed  to  worship  at  Milford,  taking  his 
wife  and  baby  there  and  back  every  Sabbath,  a 
distance  of  eight  miles  through  the  woods.  Their 
custom  was  to  ride  one  horse ;  the  couple  taking 
turns  in  riding  and  walking,  the  one  riding  carry- 
ing the  child.  This  method  of  traveling  was  called 
' 'to  ride  and  tie." 

Our  family  comes  from  John  Holbrook,  (one  of 
three  brothers),  who  emigrated  from  Derby,  En- 
gland, and  settled  at  Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island, 
1652.  Deacon  Abel  Holbrook  settled  on  the 
farm  extending  over  Sentinel  Hill  and  through 
Pleasant  Valley  in  Derby,  Connecticut,  1676. 
Deacon  Daniel  Holbrook  married  1729.  Deacon 
Daniel  Holbrook,  secohd,  my  grandfather,  married 
1766.  He  was  a  Colonel  in  the  Revolutionary 
War.  Josiah  Holbrook  married  Lucy  Swift,  1815; 
children :  Alfred  (the  writer  of  this)  and  Dwight. 
Alfred  married  Melissa  Piefson,  March  24,  1843; 
children:  Josiah,  R.  Heber,  John  B.,  Agnes 
Irene,  Anne  Lucy,  and  Alfred  Holbrook.  The 
youngest,  Alfred  Holbrook,  was  drowned  when 


GENEALOGY.  9 

fifteen  years  of  age.  The  others  are  living,  and 
engaged  with  their  father  in  the  National  Normal 
University.  The  mother  died,  May,  1884. 

My  grandfather,  Colonel  Holbrook,  states  that 
Captain  Bradley,  in  his  regiment,  was  shot  through 
the  head,  in  the  defense  of  East  Haven.  I  have 
often  seen  the  hat  he  wore,  penetrated  with  the 
bullet-holes,  hanging  in  the  house  of  his  son,  Cap- 
tain Bradley,  of  Derby. 

The  present  Holbrooks  may  consider  themselves 
as  coming  from  good  Puritan  stock,  an  unbroken 
line  of  deacons.  Some  of  my  Derby  recollections 
may  be  interesting  to  my  family  and  other  imme- 
diate friends.  My  mother  died  when  I  was  two 
years  old,  consequently  I  do  not  remember  her. 
I  only  remember  hearing  my  father  speak  of  her 
once:  "I  never  came  into  the  house  or  into  her 
presence,  anywhere,  that  she  did  not  welcome  me 
with  her  sweet  and  beautiful  smile." 

My  parents  were  both  good  singers,  and  led 
their  parts  in  the  church-choir  of  Derby.  My 
aunts  have  told  me  that  "my  father  sang  my 
mother's  favorite  hymn  at  her  burial  by  himself," 
but  he  was  never  hfeard  to  sing  afterward.  He 
never  married  again,  though,  in  my  opinion,  he 
was  a  very  handsome  and  attractive  man,  and 
might  have  married  a  fortune  at  several  different 
times,  as  I  was  told. 

When  my  father  had  built  a  house  on  Sentinel 
Hill,  and  had  moved  into  it,  Aunt  Irene  Pierson 
occupied  the  Holbrook  homestead  in  Pleasant  Val- 


IO  REMINISCENCES. 

ley,  while  her  husband  was  at  work  on  the  home 
farm.  It  thus  happened,  that  my  wife,  Melissa, 
and  I,  were  born  in  the  same  room  in  the  Hoi- 
brook  mansion.  My  first  recollection  of  her  is 
that  I  was  seated  by  a  little,  flaxen-ringletted  girl 
in  school  for  punishment,  when  about  seven  years 
old.  The  punishment  thus  given  by  Miss  Julia 
Ann  Tomlinson,  was  not  severe ;  whether  it  proved 
effectual  I  am  unable  to  state. 

Melissa  left  Derby  with  her  parents  when  eight 
years  old.  They  came  to  Kirtland,  Ohio,  and 
settled  on  a  farm  the  mother  had  received  as  her 
patrimony  from  the  Holbrook  estate.  The  farm 
is  still  occupied  by  her  son,  Julius  Pierson. 

Some  forty  years  after  the  family  left  Derby, 
my  wife  and  I  returned.  I  was  continually  sur- 
prised at  the  familiar  acquaintance  which  she  ex- 
hibited with  every  street,  brook,  bridge,  every  old 
house  and  old  family  in  Derby.  I  had  left  Derby 
twelve  years  later.  This  was  the  first  time  either 
had  returned  to  Derby  since  coming  West.  My 
recollections  of  my  childhood  are  very  pleas- 
ant. My  aunt,  Mrs.  Melissa  Holbrook  Craft,  had 
taken  me  when  my  mother  died,  and  provided  for, 
and  trained  me,  till  my  father  called  me  to  Boston. 

She  was  a  woman  of  most  implicit  trust  in  her 
Savior.  With  small  means  she  rendered  help  and 
sympathy  to  all  who  were  in  want  or  distress. 
Such  self-denial  in  all  personal  comforts  for  in- 
creasing the  means  of  helping  others,  I  have  never 
seen  in  any  other,  excepting  one.  Besides  feed- 


GENEALOGY.  1 1 

ing  an.d  clothing  me,  her  house  was  the  home  at 
different  times  for  various  others  who  had  been 
unfortunate.  She  was  often  told  that  she  would 
scarcely  eat  or  wear  anything  which  she  could 
give  away.  She  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  and 
never  wanted  for  any  good  thing,  was  always 
thankful,  and  never  was  entirely  deprived  of  the 
privilege  of  giving  consolation  and  aid  to  some 
whom  she  thought  more  needy  than  herself. 

The  only  other  woman  I  ever  knew  whom  I 
thought  as  self-sacrificing,  as  trustful,  as  devoted 
in  her  piety,  as  ready  in  her  sympathy,  and  earn- 
est in  her  benevolence,  was  her  namesake,  Melissa 
Holbrook  Pierson  Holbrook,  my  wife. 

The  influence  of  two  such  Melissas,  one  in  child- 
hood, the  other  in  manhood,  was  surely  of  divine 
appointment,  and  has  ever  been  regarded  as  such. 


CHAPTER  II. 


EXPERIENCE  IN  GROTON,    MASSACHUSETTS. 

IN  1827,  my  father  sent  for  me  to  meet  him  in 
Groton,  Massachusetts.  He  was  giving  a  course 
of  scientific  lectures  there,  and  I  was  entered  as  a 
pupil  in  the  Groton  Academy.  Elizur  Wright 
was  the  Principal.  We  boarded  with  Rev.  John 
Todd,  the  noted  preacher  and  evangelist.  The 
competition  of  Mr.  Todd  and  father  in  story-telling 
was  amusing  and  exciting.  It  was  a  common  say- 
ing in  the  streets  of  Groton,  "Did  you  go  to  hear 
Todd  tell  stories  last  Sunday  ?  "  The  question  had 
reference  to  his  preaching.  I  was  eleven  years 
old,  and  Mr.  Todd  was  the  first  preacher  I  had 
ever  listened  to  with  interest  or  profit.  His  ser- 
mons abounded  in  illustrations,  anecdotes,  humor 
and  wit,  and  were  just  as  interesting  to  children 
as  to  adults.  He  had  gathered  the  orthodox  mem- 
bers of  the  old  Congregational  Church,  who  had 
virtually  been  expelled  by  the  Unitarians  from  the 
church  their  fathers  had  erected,  and  was  building 
a  new  edifice.  The  dedication  was  noted  by  the 
harnesses  of  the  members  being  cut,  their  linch- 
pins being  removed,  and  by  kegs  of  sulphur  being 

(12) 


EXPERIENCE  IN  GROTON,    MASS.  1 3 

rolled  into  the  vestibule.  All  of  which  were  evi- 
dences of  Mr.  Todd's  power  as  a  preacher  and 
organizer.  I  will  give  one  of  Mr.  Todd's  Andover 
experiences  as  related  by  him  at  the  dinner  table. 

A  senior  student  returning  to  the  seminary 
from  a  village,  where  he  had  supplied  a  pulpit,  re- 
lated to  his  room-mate  and  others  that  he  had  been 
waylaid  in  a  patch  of  woods  just  out  of  the  village, 
and  had  been  robbed  of  his  watch  and  pocket- 
book.  It  was  all  the  worse  that  his  pocketbook 
contained  all  the  money  he  had — the  five  dollars 
he  had  received  for  preaching. 

Several  of  the  students  volunteered  to  go  with 
him  the  next  morning  to  the  place  of  his  misad- 
venture, hoping  to  aid  in  tracking  and  apprehend- 
ing the  highwayman. 

On  arriving  at  the  place,  they  found  an  orchard 
on  one  side  of  the  road,  a  pump  standing  by  the 
fence,  with  the  handle  projecting  toward  the 
road.  The  pocketbook  and  watch  were  lying  on 
the  ground,  near  the  pump,  where  the  frightened 
theologue  had  thrown  them  as  he  started  to  run 
from  the  robber. 

Besides  giving  me  the  advantages  of  school,  my 
father  hired  a  watchmaker  to  give  me  daily  training 
in  the  use  of  tools.  The  knowledge  and  skill  there 
obtained,  and  the  practical  economy  there  ac- 
quired, in  making  poor  tools  and  defective  ma- 
terials accomplish  their  ends,  have  been  of  the 
greatest  possible  advantage  in  every  position  in 
which  I  have  since  been  placed. 


14  REMINISCENCES. 

I  there  learned  there  was  excitement  and  inter- 
est in  overcoming  difficulties,  rather  than  in  being 
overcome  by  them. 

I  remember  hearing  my  father  say  for  my  en- 
couragement:  4<  Anybody  can  work  with  good 
tools,  but  it  takes  pluck  to  manage  poor  ones,  and 
a  genius  to  perform  his  work  with  none  at  all." 

The  pluck  was  developed,  if  anything.  My 
worthy  mechanic  teacher  gave  me  his  poorest 
tools  to  work  with,  until  I  had  demonstrated  that 
I  would  not  spoil  his  good  ones. 

At  the  same  time,  father  bought  me  a  box  of 
drawing  instruments,  and  set  me  to  work  in  me- 
chanical drawing.  I  was  much  interested  in  this, 
and  have  ever  since  made  use  of  the  power  there 
and  then  acquired  in  the  training  of  the  hand,  eye 
and  mind  together,  in  all  demands  for  mechanical 
calculation  and  invention.  The  calls  for  just  such 
skill  and  contrivance  as  that  early  training  gave 
me,  have  been  varied  and  numberless,  all  my 
life  long.  It  was  just  the  training  that  a  good 
Providence  only  could  foresee  was  necessary  in 
the  independent,  revolutionizing  course  I  have 
been  led  to  pursue  in  all  matters  pertaining  to 
education.  It  was  this  practical  combination  of 
mechanism  and  science,  which  my  father  still  con- 
tinued in  Boston,  that  has  made  it  possible  for  me 
to  sustain  myself  amid  the  poverty,  and  against 
the  maledictions  and  denunciations  of  otherwise 
good  men,  in  developing  a  practical  system  of 
training,  which  has,  to  a  large  extent,  in  my  humble 


EXPERIENCE  IN  GROTON,   MASS.  15 

opinion,  already  done  much  to  modify  educational 
work  everywhere,  and  which  will,  with  other 
providential  means,  speedily  revolutionize  the  en- 
tire scope  and  plan  of  college  instruction. 

My  father,  about*  this  time,  commenced  the 
manufacture  of  the  apparatus  in  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, which  has  since  borne  his  name. 

While  attending  school  in  Groton,  my  room- 
mate and  I  occasionally  took  walks  in  the  country. 
There  is  a  beautiful  lake  east  of  Groton,  some 
three  miles,  as  I  recollect  it.  One  evening,  re- 
turning from  this  lake,  around  which  we  had  been 
picking  huckleberries,  we  passed  an  orchard  full 
of  fine  fruit.  The  ground  was  covered  under  many 
of  the  trees.  We  concluded  to  enter  the  orchard 
and  help  ourselves  to  some  of  the  apples.  Passing 
around  among  the  trees,  we  filled  our  pockets,  eat- 
ing the  meanwhile.  Being  just  ready  to  return  to 
the  road  with  our  supplies,  we  heard  a  voice  angrily 
calling  after  us.  My  first  impulse  was  to  run,  but 
being  too  plucky  for  that,  I  walked  toward  the 
man  who  was  bawling  at  us.  He  met  me  half 
way,  saying:  "My  boy,  why  didn't  you  run  away 
like  a  thief,  with  that  other  fellow?"  My  room- 
mate had  scampered  away  down  into  the  cran- 
berry swamp,  adjoining  the  orchard. 

*  'I  would  rather  pay  for  the  apples  I  have  taken. " 

4 'Pay  for  them  ?  No,  no.  Come  and  get  all  the 
apples  you  want;  only  come  and  ask  me,  and  I 
will  find  the  best  ones  for  you." 

' 'Thank  you,  sir." 


1 6  REMINISCENCES. 

"But  you  tell  that  little  rapscallion  if  he  ever 
comes  this  way  again,  I'll  horsewhip  him." 

More  than  fifty  years  after,  a  Miss  Shattuck 
entered  school  here,  from  Groton,  Massachusetts. 
Enquiring  of  her  one  day  whereabouts  in  Groton 
she  lived,  she  replied  :  "  About  two  miles  east  of 
the  old  church."  On  the  road  out  to  the  lake?" 
''Yes."  "Did  your  house  stand  on  the  north  side 
of  the  road,  with  an  orchard  and  cranberry  swamp 
on  the  south  side?"  "Yes.  Why?"  Then  I 
told  her  the  story  of  Charley  Richards  and  myself 
stealing  apples,  and  what  the  farmer  said.  l  'That 
is  just  like  my  grandfather ;  I  have  heard  many 
such  things  of  him,  though  I  do  not  remember 
him." 


CHAPTER  III. 


EXPERIENCE    IN    BOSTOI 

MY  father,  Josiah  Holbrook,  was  a  graduate  of 
Yale  in  1814.  He  was  engaged  with  Professor 
Silliman  as  a  student  and  laboratory  worker  in  in- 
troducing chemistry  as  a  practical  science  to  his 
classes.  He  thus  became  interested  in  practical 
scientific  work.  The  difficulty  was,  that  as  treated 
in  Yale  and  other  colleges,  it  was  entirely  beyond 
the  public  schools,  where  it  was  most  needed. 
In  fact,  to  this  day,  laboratory  work  is,  in  most 
colleges,  deferred  to  the  senior  year,  and  even 
then  hardly  five  per  cent,  of  any  graduating  class 
engage  in  it.  The  class  as  a  class  listen  to  the 
lectures  and  witness  the  experiments,  with  what 
results  is  well  known.  Not  one  college  graduate 
now  in  twenty  really  knows  anything  certainly  or 
practically  of  the  natural  sciences,  or  is  able  to- 
converse  technically  or  intelligently  on  scientific 
subjects.  On  leaving  college,  father  began  apply- 
ing his  scientific  knowledge  to  farming,  in  the 
training  of  about  twenty  young  men  to  the  appli- 
cation of  scientific  principles  in  their  daily  labor. 
They  were  also  pursuing  the  ordinary  college  cur- 


1 8  REMINISCENCES. 

riculum.     This  was  the  first  manual  labor  school 
that  I  have  any  knowledge  of.     The  young  men 
obtained  such  a  power  in  study  on  this  practical 
plan,  that  several  of  them  afterward  became  emi 
nent  in  the  different  professions. 

But  the  manual  labor  system  was  a  financial 
loss  to  the  originator.  It  has  been  a  failure  in  the 
hundreds  of  attempts  made  since  my  father's  ex- 
perience. 

His  next  enterprise  was  the  organizing  of  lyce- 
ums,  and  to  this  end  he  invented  and  constructed 
simple  and  inexpensive  articles  of  chemical  and 
philosophical  apparatus,  reducing  the  price  of  an 
outfit  from  thousands  to  tens  of  dollars,  thus 
bringing  the  actualities  of  scientific  laboratory 
work  within  the  reach  of  lyceums  and  the  pupils 
of  public  schools.  The  apparatus  now  in  use  in 
our  public  schools,  and  in  many  colleges,  was  in- 
vented by  my  father,  and  first  manufactured  in  his 
shops  in  Boston.  Very  few  additional  articles 
comparatively  have  been  introduced  since  he  left 
the  business,  even  in  electricity. 

It  thus  will  be  seen  that  Josiah  Holbrook  was  a 
practical  educator,  and  was  among  the  first  to  ad- 
vocate the  study  of  natural  science.  This  training 
of  the  mind  and  hand  together  he  urged  as  the 
most  effectual  method  of  mental  and  manly  devel- 
opment. 

When  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  all  my  school- 
mates were  going  to  college,  I  asked  my  father 
when  I  was  going  to  college.  He  replied:  "Al- 


EXPERIENCE  IN  BOSTON.  \Q 

fred,  I  do  not  expect  to  send  you  to  college. 
You  are  getting  a  better  education  now  than  any 
college  can  give,  as  colleges  are  now  managed.  I 
can  give  you  double  the  amount  of  money  re- 
quired for  a  college  course  in  some  other  way;  but 
I  do  not  wish  you  to  waste  so  much  time,  and  run 
such  a  risk  of  ruin  as  I  did.  I  barely  escaped,  and 
I  am  not  willing  to  expose  my  son  to  the  tempta- 
tions and  dangers  that  I  experienced  in  college 
life." 

So  I  did  not  go  to  college,  though  I  could  not 
but  think  then  that  I  was  not  very  well  used.  I 
have  since,  however,  fully  concurred  in  my 
father's  judgment. 

Soon  after  this  conversation,  he  proposed,  as  I 
was  working  ten  hours  per  day  in  his  apparatus 
manufactory,  that  I  should  rise  at  five  o'clock  and 
study  an  hour  or  two  before  breakfast,  promising 
that  he  would  make  a  room  comfortable  for  me  to 
study  in,  i.e.,  lighted  and  warmed.  Said  I,  "Pa, 
will  you  call  me?"  "No,"  he  replied,  "you  will 
have  to  wake  yourself;  but  when  you  have  mas- 
tered Day's  Algebra  I  will  make  you  a  present  of 
a  watch."  "Will  you  help  me?"  "No,  you 
can  master  it  yourself."  "I  don't  know;  I'll  try," 
said  I,  and  accepted  the  proposition. 

So  in  about  a  month  I  was  wearing  my  watch. 
This  was  in  the  winter  of  1830-31.  I  wore  that 
watch  for  ten  years  or  more. 

No  stimulus  but  the  power  of  study  has  ever 
been  needed  since  that  time  to  rouse  me  at 


2O  REMINISCENCES. 

any   fixed   time   in   the   morning   to  pursue   my 
studies. 

It  encouraged  me  greatly  when  one  day  I  over- 
heard my  father  say,  in  advocating  his  plan  of 
education  (manual  labor),  that  "  Alfred  was  mak- 
ing better  progress  in  his  studies  while  working 
ten  hours  daily  in  the  shop  than  most  boys  who 
were  attending  school  and  doing  nothing  else." 

It  was  in  the  second  year  of  my  Boston  life  that 
I  asked  father  to  let  me  attend  Mr.  Pile's  school. 
It  was  the  most  popular  school  in  Boston  at  that 
time,  for  fitting  boys  for  Harvard  or  Yale.  More 
than  this,  I  had  become  acquainted  with  Lowell 
Mason's  two  boys,  about  my  age,  and  they  were 
attending  there.  Father  smiled,  saying,  "Alfred, 
you  will  not  like  it  there;  it  will  only  be  a  hin- 
drance to  you."  "But  pa,  I  would  like  to  try  it, 
and  if  I  don't  like  it,  I  won't  be  obliged  to  con- 
tinue, I  suppose."  "Well,  all  right;  here  are 
ten  dollars  to  pay  your  tuition;  the  experience 
you  will  get  there  may  be  worth  something  to 
you." 

I  attended  one  week,  and  asked  father  if  I 
might  quit,  saying,  "Why,  I  can  learn  more  in 
one  day,  besides  doing  my  work,  than  they  go 
over  there  in  three."  "I  am  glad  you  are  satis- 
fied," said  father;  "the  ten  dollars  were  a  good 
investment."  I  was  studying  Virgil  at  the  time, 
with  no  regular  recitation  to  father.  He,  how- 
ever, occasionally  quizzed  me,  to  satisfy  himself 
that  my  progress  was  safe  and  thorough.  On 


EXPERIENCE  IN  BOSTON.  21 

such  occasions,  though  his  criticisms  were  rigid 
and  exacting,  I  enjoyed  them,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  asked  him  to  examine  me  in  my  studies. 
His  reply  was  almost  always  something  like  this: 
"You  are  doing  well  enough.  I  want  you  to  be- 
come independent  of  me  as  a  student,  just  as  far 
and  as  soon  as  possible." 

By  this  kind  and  happy  management  my  father 
aroused  in  me  a  controlling  devotion  to  study  and 
love  of  work.  It  has  been  my  own  salvation,  and, 
I  trust,  the  effectual  means  of  saving  and  blessing 
thousands  of  others. 

Speaking-  of  the  sons  of  Lowell  Mason,  Mr. 
Winthrop  B.  Smith,  the  founder  of  the  School- 
book  House  of  the  West,  before  he  retired  from 
business,  told  me  the  following  (he  was  a  room- 
mate of  mine  in  Boston) : — 

"I  always  stop  with  William  Mason,  one  of  the 
firm  of  Mason  Bros.,  when  in  New  York.  Once, 
on  arriving  about  10  A.  M.,  I  went  directly  to  Dr- 
Mason's  room,  where  he  was  sitting  at  his  piano, 
composing  a  piece  of  music.  He  welcomed  me 
pleasantly,  inquired  how  long  I  would  remain  in 
the  city,  etc.  I  went  out  about  my  business,  but 
returned  to  dinner.  As  we  were  sitting  at  the 
table  the  doctor  came  down  and  greeted  me  most 
cordially,  saying,  '  It  is  a  long  time,  Mr.  Smith, 
since  I  have  seen  you ;  I  fear  you  don't  always 
call  when  in  New  York, '  showing  that  he  was  un- 
conscious of  having  welcomed  me  earlier  in  the 
day.  On  mentioning  this  to  William,  who  was 


22  REMINISCENCES. 

not  at  dinner,  he  replied :  '  Oh,  father  is  very  much 
absorbed  in  music.  It  was  only  last  month,  when 
the  panic  (of  1857)  struck  us,  and  we  were  unable 
to  meet  our  engagement  at  the  bank,  that  I  went 
to  father's  room,  saying,  "  Father,  I  want  you  to 
go  to  Boston  and  get  twenty  thousand  dollars;  we 
are  not  able  to  raise  the  money  here,  and  we  must 
have  it  or  have  our  note  protested."  Father  re- 
plied: "Well,  William,  please  don't  interrupt  me; 
I  have  an  idea  here  that  I  am  trying  to  work  out; 
don't  disturb  me,  I  am  afraid  I  shall  lose  it. "  "  But 
father,  we  have  to  have  the  money,  or  we  are  all 
ruined.  You  must  go  to  Boston  and  get  it  for 
us.  We  can't  do  anything  there,  and  you  can." 
(The  doctor  had  been  a  bank  director  in  Boston.) 
'So,'  continued  William,  '  I  had  to  get  father's 
coat  and  boots,  and  almost  drag  him  to  the  cars. ' 
He  returned  in  due  time  with  the  money.  Hand- 
ing it  to  me,  he  said:  "There,  William,  I  hope 
you  will  never  disturb  me  again ;  I  have  lost  the 
idea,  and  fear  I  can  not  recover  it.  Never  do  it 
again,  William." 

The  second  centennial  of  the  settlement  of  Bos- 
ton occurred  in  1830.  It  was  celebrated  as  Boston 
only  can  do  such  things.  A  procession  was 
formed  at  the  State  House ;  the  Governor  and  his 
staff  led  on  horseback ;  and  were  followed  by  the 
' '  ancient  and  honorable  artillery. "  Distinguished 
citizens  and  invited  guests  then  came  in  carriages. 
Two  bands  furnished  music  for  the  march.  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  the  speaker  of  the  day.  The 


EXPERIENCE  IN  BOSTON.  23 

Old  South  Church  was  jammed  to  its  utmost  ca- 
pacity ;  there  was  no  more  standing-room  even  in 
the  second  gallery.     The  long  stanchions,  extend- 
ing from  the  floor  thirty  feet  to  support  these  gal- 
leries on  three  sides  of  the  house,  possibly  gave 
the  idea  of  insecurity.     The  Old  South  was  the 
oldest  church  then  standing  in  Boston.      This  fact 
was  taken  into  consideration  also.     After  the  ora- 
tion, which  I  heard  standing  near  the  pulpit  on 
the  lower  floor,  an  anthem  was  being  performed, 
accompanied  by  the  great  organ — the  largest  then 
on  the  continent.     One  of  the  back  seats  in  the 
upper  gallery,   on  which  six  or  eight  men  were 
standing,    broke  with  a  crash.      A  panic  ensued. 
Everybody  rushed  for  the  nearest  door.     Screams 
of  women  were  heard  as  they  were  crushed  in  the 
stairways.     The  organist,  by  some  fortuity,  inten- 
sified the  general  fright  by  placing  both  his  arms 
on  the  keys,  several  heavy  stops  of  the  organ  being 
in  connection.     In  the  midst  of  all  this  chaos  and 
rage  of  the  elements,  a  thundering  voice  was  heard 
— " There  is  no  danger;  the  house  is  as  firm  as  the 
everlasting  hills !"     Quiet  was  instantly  restored ; 
the  panic  was  over;  all  returned  to  their  places; 
the  anthem  proceeded,  and  the  exercises  closed  as 
usual.     It  was  the  voice  of  the  god-like  that  stilled 
the  storm — it  was  Daniel  Webster's. 

My  father's  office  was  at  the  corner  of  Washing- 
ton and  School  Streets.  His  office  and  sales- 
rooms for  his  apparatus  occupied  the  whole  of  the 
second  story.  Carter  &  Hendee  occupied  the 


24  REMINISCENCES. 

ground  floor  as  a  book-store.  It  was  the  book- 
store of  Boston  then ;  it  is  a  book-store  still.  The 
same  old  two-story  building  stands  there  now, 
while  contiguous,  and  all  around  in  every  direc- 
tion, are  seen  immense  structures  of  five  and  six 
stories.  This  old  corner  is  an  interesting  locality 
to  me  and  my  children  when  we  visit  Boston. 
All  who  visit  Boston  take  in  the  Old  South,  corner 
of  Washington  and  Milk  Streets,  as  one  of  the 
sights.  It  is  now  the  repository  of  all  the  odd, 
queer,  out-of-date  articles  gathered  from  old  gar- 
rets and  other  stowaway  places,  illustrating  the 
social  usages  and  bygone  customs  of  earlier  days. 
It  is  an  interesting  place  to  spend  an  hour  in. 

The  first  Sabbath  night  after  I  arrived  in  Bos- 
ton, being  then  14  years  of  age,  I  was  aroused  by 
the  clang  of  the  Old  South  bell,  about  midnight. 
My  room  was  as  light  as  day,  though  it  was  a 
stormy  and  moonless  night.  I  had  never  seen  a 
' '  fire  "  before.  The  cry  of  ' '  fire  "  ringing  through 
the  streets,  the  jingle  of  the  bells  on  the  fire- 
engines,  and  the  bawling  of  the  trumpets  all  con- 
tributed to  my  alarm ;  but  I  had  nothing  else  to- 
do  than  to  lie  quiet  till  my  father,  sleeping  in 
another  room,  should  order  me  out;  though  I 
thought  the  room  felt  hot  already.  No  father's 
voice  was  heard.  I  began  to  think  he  had  gone 
out  and  forgotten  his  boys,  and  was  just  about  to 
get  up  and  take  care  of  myself  and  get  out  if  the 
fire  would  let  me,  when  I  heard  some  one  say, 
who  had  just  entered  the  house,  that  Dr.  Beecher's 


EXPERIENCE  IN  BOSTON.  25 

church  was  burning.  -Now  I  had  already  learned 
that  his  church  was  more  than  a  mile  distant  from 
Sewall  Place,  where  we  were  boarding ;  my  fears 
subsided,  I  dropped  off  to  sleep,  and  knew  no 
more  till  morning,  when,  of  course,  we  all  visited 
the  ruins. 

Now,  it  was  rather  a  singular  circumstance  that, 
as  we  considered  Dr.  Beecher  the  head  and  front 
of  the  first  temperance  movement,  we  should 
see  in  the  streets  near  the  ruins,  piles  and  piles  of 
casks  of  all  sizes,  labeled  wine,  brandy,  etc.,  etc. 
It  was,  however,  explained  in  a  measure,  when  we 
learned  that  the  cellars  of  the  church  were  not 
under  Dr.  Beecher's  control.  They  had  been 
used,  possibly,  by  some  of  his  church-members  as 
storerooms  for  this  kind  of  merchandise.  I  after- 
ward attended  Dr.  Beecher's  services.  He,  with 
his  congregation,  worshiped  at  the  Park  Street 
Church.  Lowell  Mason  was  the  organist  and 
choir  leader.  It  was  rather  amusing  to  hear 
those  say  who  attended  there  nearly  every  Sab- 
bath, on  returning  from  preaching,  that  Beecher 
had  preached  the  most  powerful  sermon  they  ever 
heard.  For  once  this  would  have  been  well 
enough ;  but  as  a  recurring  fact  that  any  man 
had  done  the  most  powerful  thing  ever  heard  of, 
was  to  me  a  little  funny,  to  say  the  least.  That 
winter  the  doctor  gave  a  course  of  Sunday  even- 
ing lectures  on  Catholicism.  Multitudes  went 
away  from  the  house  on  every  such  occasion, 
unable  to  find  standing  room  even. 


26  REMINISCENCES. 

The  preacher  himself  found  entrance  at  a  back 
window,  and  was  aided  by  the  police  in  making 
his  way  to  the  pulpit.  The  Catholic  Bishop  at- 
tempted to  answer  Beecher.  P  was  present  at 
one  of  these  attempts — the  only  time  I  ever  made 
a  part  of  a  cathedral  congregation.  The  jam  was 
fearful.  Though  the*  night  was  intensely  cold, 
the  house  was  hot  and  foul  with  exhalations  of 
tobacco  and  whisky.  A  woman  fainted  near  the 
altar.  She  had  to  be  sent  out  over  the  heads  of 
those  crowding  the  aisles.  A  priest  cried  out, 
"Open  the  windows  in  the  galleries!"  All  the 
upper  windows  of  the  immense  building  were 
opened.  Though  the  night  was  clear  without, 
the  cold  air  entering  and  sweeping  through  the 
moist  atmosphere  produced  a  dense  cloud,  ex- 
tending through  all  the  upper  part  of  the  build- 
ing. It  was  a  phenomenon.  But  shortly  a  fall 
of  snow  covered  all  on  the  lower  floor — the  only 
snow-storm  I  ever  saw  in  clear  weather,  or  inside 
of  a  cathedral. 

We  were  accustomed  to  obtain  most  of  our 
hardware  for  the  manufacture  of  apparatus  from 
Bradley's  hardware  establishment  on  Washington 
Street,  just  north  of  the  Old  South  Church.  I 
became  well  acquainted  with  the  head  clerk, 
Thompson.  Mr.  Bradley  had  advanced  him  from 
an  errand  boy  to  the  position  of  confidential  clerk. 
Contrary  to  the  wishes  of  his  employer,  he  had 
formed  an  attachment  for  his  daughter,  and  the 
attachment  was  ardently  reciprocated.  Every  in- 


EXPERIENCE  IN  BOSTON.  2/ 

fluence  was  used  by  the  parents  to  prevent  the 
match;  the  daughter  was  sent  away  to  school, 
was  sent  to  Europe,  but  every  such  means,  as 
usual  in  such  cases,  only  seemed  to  endear  the 
young  people  to  each  other  the  more.  They  both 
declared,  and  always,  they  would  never  marry 
without  her  parents'  consent.  Their  objection  to 
the  young  man  as  a  son-in-law  was  not  known. 
It  was  conjectured  that  they  had  formed  a  more 
ambitious  alliance  for  their  daughter  with  one  of 
the  first  families  of  Boston,  but  this  was  only  con- 
jectured. That  there  was  no  objection  to  his 
moral  or  business  character,  was  apparent  from  the 
fact  that  Mr.  Bradley  proposed  to  Thompson  that 
if  he  would  give  up  his  design  upon  the  daughter 
he  would  send  him  to  New  Orleans  and  set  him 
up  in  the  hardware  business  there. 

Thompson  accepted  the  proposition.  The 
goods  were  purchased,  a  vessel  was  chartered  and 
Thompson  was  to  sail  with  the  goods  on  a  certain 
night.  It  was  supposed  that  he  had  gone  with 
the  vessel. 

The  next  morning  the  boy  who  usually  opened 
and  swept  the  store,  was  unable  to  open  the  door., 
There  was  a  key,  or  other  obstruction,  in  the 
lock.  He  reported  at  once  to  Mr.  Bradley,  who 
hastened  to  the  store  and  effected  an  entrance. 
Nothing  was  disturbed  on  the  shelves  or  the  cases 
or  drawers  below.  The  boy  went  up  into  the 
several  stories  and  found  everything  all  right.  He 
came  down  and  reported  accordingly.  He  was 


28  REMINISCENCES. 

asked  if  he  had  gone  into  the  garret,  for  Mr. 
Bradley  found  his  own  key  in  the  door  inside,  and 
he  feared  something  terrible.  The  boy  went  to 
the  garret,  and  there  found  Thompson  and  Miss 
Bradley  hanging  from  a  rafter  dead  in  each  other's 
arms. 

So  ended  this  love  story.  It  was  a  matter  of 
universal  horror,  and  yet  of  condolence.  But  the 
discussion  of  the  catastrophe  frequently  ended 
with  something  like  this,  Why  didn't  they  run 
away  and  get  married?  or,  Why  couldn't  the  old 
folks  trust  the  young  man  with  their  daughter, 
when  they  were  willing  to  trust  him  with  every- 
thing else? 

It  was  finally  ascertained  that  the  parents'  ob- 
jection to  the  young  man  was,  that  he  was  an 
infidel,  and  they  felt  they  could  not  consent  to 
place  their  daughter  and  her  children  under  such 
influences. 

After  my  father  had  accumulated  over  $20,000 
in  cash  and  in  stock  from  his  apparatus  business, 
he  planned  a  tour  through  all  the  States,  with  the 
design  of  arousing  a  general  and  national  interest 
in  his  views  and  plans  of  education.  Hoping  to 
secure  legislative  action  favorable  to  the  general 
organization  of  lyceums  in  every  town  and  village, 
he  visited  nearly  every  capital  and  addressed  the 
legislature  convened,  or  a  committee  appointed 
for  the  purpose.  His  letters  expressed  great  en- 
couragement that  his  plans  would  be  generally 
adopted,  and  that  lyceums,  through  the  legislative 


EXPERIENCE  IN  BOSTON.  2p 

action  promised,  would  become  as  common  as 
public  schools,  and  would  exert  an  influence  for 
immeasurable  good  in  turning  the  minds  of  the 
people  to  scientific  inquiry  and  investigation,  thus 
developing  in  an  unprecedented  manner  the  agri- 
cultural, manufacturing  and  mining  resources  of 
every  State  and  community.  He  had  already  se- 
cured the  law  for  the  first  geological  survey  in  the 
United  States.  It  was  accomplished  in  part  by 
placing  a  small  cabinet  of  fifty  minerals  on  the 
desk  of  each  Senator  and  Representative  in  the 
Massachusetts  State  House.  I  had  the  pleasure 
and  the  advantage  of  selecting  and  preparing 
these  cabinets  under  my  father's  direction. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


MY  TEACHERS. 

MY  first  teacher,  whom  I  do  not  remember  as 
such,  was  my  aunt  Theodosia  Swift,  my  mother's 
oldest  sister.  I  heard  my  aunts  and  others  say 
that  my  father,  not  long  after  my  birth,  offered 
this  aunt  a  new  silk  dress  as  soon  as  Alfred  learned 
to  read  in  the  Testament,  and  that  this  my  first 
teacher  obtained  before  Alfred  was  three  years 
old.  Of  this  I  know  nothing  further  than  by  re- 
port. The  first  teacher  that  I  do  remember,  was 
a  Miss  Julia  Ann  Tomlinson,  who  taught  a  sum- 
mer-school in  the  old  Academy  at  Derby,  which 
stood  on  Science  .Hill,  near  where  the  old  First 
Congregational  Church  stood,  in  my  early  recol- 
lections. Miss  Julia  Ann  was  very  popular  with 
the  children.  Not  infrequently  she  gave  us  little 
prizes,  of  ribbons  round  the  neck  with  some  coin 
attached,  sometimes  little  pictures  and  drawings 
which  she  made  herself,  more  frequently  perhaps, 
kisses,  both  for  boys  and  girls,  and  she  was  al- 
ways remerttbered  by  all  her  pupils  with  kindness 
and  affection.  Her  modes  of  punishment  were 
(30) 


MY  TEACHERS.  31 

not  specially  peculiar  for  that  day.  I  remember 
very  well  of  wearing  the  foolscap,  and  of  sitting 
on  the  dunce-block,  but  it  was  a  rare  misdemeanor 
that  brought  down  upon  me,  as  a  culprit,  the  pun- 
ishment of  sitting  beside  a  little  flaxen-haired  girl 
two  years  younger  than  myself. 

I  suppose,  though  I  don't  remember  distinctly, 
that  there  was  a  good  deal  of  whimpering  by  the 
punishee,  but  whether  it  was  sham  or  in  earnest, 
I  am  not  able  to  tell  now.  But  it  seems  to  me 
that  I  do  remember  the  picture  of  the  little  lassie 
who  was  made  the  means  of  punishment.  But 
this  may  be  more  a  matter  of  imagination  than  of 
memory.  Years  afterward,  she  certainly  was 
not  a  punishment  or  a  bugbear;  but  the  great- 
est blessing  that  heaven  ever  bestowed  upon  a 
man.  She  was'  the  mother  of  all  my  children. 
Some  years  after  this  happened,  when  my  wife 
and  I  were  visiting  Derby,  and  called  upon  Mrs. 
Julia  Ann  Tomlinson  Blakeman,  my  recollections 
of  her  methods  of  discipline  were  not  fully  corrob- 
orated by  her  statement  of  the  case.  Nor  did 
the  rod  of  affliction  who  was  with  me,  realize  that 
she  had  ever  been  made  use  of  for  such  a  dis- 
ciplinary purpose.  Nevertheless,  I  am  confident 
that  all  those  things  took  place  in  the  manner 
above  described,  but  there  is  one  thing  Mrs.  Blake- 
man declared  to  be  true,  which  I  had  forgotten, 
and  that  is,  she  did  put  the  split  quill  on  my  nose 
at  a  certain  date  for  a  distinct  offense.*  What  the 
offense  was,  she  was  unable  to  recall,  but  it  was 


32  REMINISCENCES. 

something  terrible  which  she  would  not  tell,  if  she 
could  remember. 

My  next  teacher  and  the  only  district-school 
teacher  with  whom  I  ever  came  in  contact,  I  shall 
call  Dr.  Goodson.  He  was  employed  by  district 
authorities  to  bring  the  school  into  order,  after  the 
pupils  had  behaved  so  badly  that  they  became  un- 
manageable under  a  college  graduate  from  Yale 
College.  Dr.  Goodson  was  a  thoroughgoing 
teacher,  after  the  principles  then  in  vogue.  His 
methods  of  government  were  whipping  for  whis- 
pering, whipping  for  throwing  spit-balls,  whipping 
for  tardiness,  whipping  for  staying  out  late  at  re- 
cess, standing  in  the  corner  for  not  getting  lessons 
in  time,  standing  in  the  corner  and  holding  a  book 
out  at  arm's  length,  for  playing  '  'baker's  dozen" 
and  "three  men  Morris;"  and  sometimes,  in  rare 
cases  when  these  varieties  of  discipline  failed  to 
have  their  effect,  the  "foolscap"  was  applied,  and 
the  "dunce-block"  was  resorted  to,  and  the  split 
quill  placed  upon  the  nose  of  the  offender  while 
sitting  on  the  dunce-block.  For  leaving  seats, 
laughing  aloud,  and  other  like  improprieties,  all 
these  were  combined  as  being  necessary  to  correct 
waywardness  and  stubbornness.  Looking  out  of 
the  windows  was  also  forbidden,  and  received  the 
penalty  of  standing  up  in  the  corner  with  the  face 
toward  the  corner.  Other  teachers  of  those  days 
were  accustomed  to  apply  the  ferule,  but  our 
school  being  near  a  row  of  quince  trees  in  an  ad- 
joining garden  lot,  Dr.  Goodson  found  it  more  con- 


MY  TEACHERS.  33 

venient  and  salutary  to  apply  quince  tree  sprouts  to 
the  back  of  the  offender.  In  extreme  cases,  the  cul- 
prit was  compelled  to  take  off  his  coat,  and  one  or 
more  of  those  quince  sprouts  were  applied,  ac- 
cording to  the  heinousness  of  the  offense.  At  the 
coming  of  the  first  ice,  the  boys  all  remained  out 
to  slide,  the  girls  passing  in  at  the  call  of  the 
ruler  rapped  on  the  side  of  the  house.  At  the 
second  or  third  rap,  it  being  louder  than  the  pre- 
vious one,  the  boys  went  in.  There  were  about 
twenty  involved  in  this  disregard  of  regulations 
and  good  order.  We  were  all  called  up  for  the 
administration  of  suitable  penalty.  We  were  mar- 
shaled in  line  upon  the  longest  clear  crack  in  the 
floor  of  the  room,  each  toeing  the  crack.  The 
tallest  boy,  Jim  Smith,  taller  than  the  teacher  him- 
self, stood  at  the  head  of  the  row;  Alfred,  the 
least  of  all,  stood  at  the  foot.  One  of  the  good 
boys,  who  had  not  gone  out  to  play  at  all,  but  had 
remained  in  to  study,  was  sent  to  the  aforesaid 
quince  trees,  with  orders  to  bring  in  two  or  three 
dozen  whips.  The  good  faithful  Doctor  applied 
one  whip  most  conscientiously  to  the  back  of  each 
of  the  several  boys,  until,  coming  to  the  last  one, 
he  said.,  in  sympathy  and  consideration,  "Why, 
Alfred,  you  are  so  little,  I  guess  I  will  let  you  go 
this  time."  Now,  the  Doctor  was  an  honest, 
Christian  worker.  Whatever  he  did  was  done  most 
faithfully  and  conscientiously,  and  especially  that 
of  whipping  the  boys,  so  that  I  was  very  glad  just 
3 


34  REMINISCENCES. 

at  that  moment  that  I  was  so  little.  So  much  for 
public  school  discipline. 

The  methods  of  instruction  were  such  as  were 
prevalent  in  those  days.  We  were  all  required  to 
do  the  sums  printed  in  Daboll's  Arithmetic,  and 
to  get  the  answers,  the  slates  being  examined  as 
often  as  they  were  filled  with  figures.  If  any  one 
was  puzzled  and  needed  help,  it  was  customary  for 
him  to  go  and  stand  by  the  Doctor's  desk,  until 
his  turn  came,  when  his  example  would  be  solved 
on  the  Doctor's  slate,  examined  by  the  pupil,  and 
the  pupil  required  to  work  out  the  same  example, 
himself,  on  his  own  slate  at  his  own  desk.  This 
individual  system,  which  is  so  much  lauded  nowa- 
days by  a  certain  class  of  institutions,  was  then, 
over  sixty  years  ago,  in  full  and  successful  opera- 
tion, doing  its  best  to  make  pupils  thorough, 
"and  not  keeping  any  pupil  back,  to  accommo- 
date the  slow  ones  in  the  class."  To  be  thorough, 
every  one  must  work  every  example  and  get 
every  answer,  and  every  example  thus  wrought, 
must  be  examined  by  the  Doctor,  before  further 
progress  could  be  made.  I  am  a  little  fearful  that 
the  present  advocates  of  the  individual  system  are 
not  quite  so  thorough,  faithful  and  patient  as  was 
my  old  teacher.  Dillworth's  spelling-book  had 
just  gone  out  of  date,  and  Webster's  had  just  come 
in. 

The  only  classes  that  I  remember  of  being 
taught  as  classes  in  Dr.  Goodson's  school,  were  the 
reading  and  spelling  classes.  Great  attention  was 


MY  TEACHERS.  35 

paid  in  those  times  to  the  ability  to  spell  all 
the  words  in  the  spelling-book,  commencing  at 
4 'baker."  And  if  there  was  any  keeping  after 
school  for  the  purpose  of  making  up  lost  time, 
and  inflicting  punishment  for  laziness  or  stupidity, 
it  was  to  learn  our  spelling  lessons.  Willet's  geog- 
raphy, with  its  old,  blurred  and  dim  maps,  was  in 
use,  but  I  was  not  sufficiently  advanced  to  study 
geography  with  Dr.  Goodson.  However,  the 
same  individual  system  was  pursued  in  the  geog- 
raphy class,  and  he  heard  a  pupil  recite  whenever 
he  felt  like  it,  or  the  pupil  was  prepared.  The  di- 
rections given  to  the  pupils  in  common,  and  to  in- 
dividuals especially,  in  the  reading  class,  were  such 
as  these:  "You  must  not  read  so  fast."  "You 
must  not  skip  your  words. "  '  'You  must  pronouce 
every  word  distinctly."  "You  must  mind  your 
stops  ;  if  you  don't  do  better  I  will  count  for  you 
at  every  stop,  one  for  every  comma,  two  for  every 
semi-colon,  three  for  every  colon,  and  six  for  every 
period."  These  are  my  most  salient  recollections 
of  my  district  school  experience,  so  far  as  indoor 
work  was  concerned.  The  plays  of  those  times, 
more  than  sixty  years  ago,  were  very  similar  to 
the  plays  of  the  present  time.  Some  of  these 
were  "base-ball,"  in  which  we  chose  sides,  "one 
hole  cat,"  "two  hole  cat,"  "knock  up  and  catch," 
"blackman,"  "snap  the  whip,"  skating,  sliding 
down  hill,  rolling  the  hoop,  marbles,  "prisoner's 
base,"  "football,"  mumble  the  peg,"  etc. 

In  the  school-room,  the  only  apparatus  was  slate 


36  REMINISCENCES. 

and  pencil,  ferule,  and  the  quince  tree  whip.  No 
blackboards,  no  desks,  save  an  inclined  wide 
board  in  front  of  the  seats  stretched  along  the 
side  of  the  house,  with  a  shelf  underneath  the  long- 
desk;  no  prepared  fuel,  the  boys  being  required 
to  cut  and  bring  in  wood  by  turns.  The  stove  had 
been  very  recently  introduced ;  the  open  fireplace 
still  remained  to  receive  the  debris  of  the  catas- 
trophies  and  mischief  of  the  day,  and  the  remnants 
of  the  dinner  baskets,  etc.  Such  were  the  facilities 
and  appointments  of  my  only  district  school. 

The  privileges  are  implied  in  these  questions, 
"'May  I  speak?"  "May  I  go  out?"  "May  I  go 
to  the  fire?"  "May  I  get  some  water?"  "May 
I  sit  with  John?"  "May  I  borrow  a  pencil?"  AIL 
of  which  interrogations  were  mostly  complied  with, 
by  our  really  kind  and  faithful  teacher.  It  was 
customary  in  those  early  days  in  all  schools  in 
New  England  to  use  the  Testament  as  a  reading- 
book.  And  when  Sallie  Morris,  an  adopted  girl, 
read,  "And  he  rebuked  the  winds,  and  there  was 
a  great  clam"  we  were  not  so  pious  or  devout 
that  we  could  not  smile  aloud  on  that,  and  like  oc- 
casions. When  the  aforesaid  boy,  Jim  Smith, 
who  did  not  enjoy  his  school-work  especially, 
and  for  that  reason  was  not  a  remarkably  prompt 
and  ready  reader,  requested  me,  sitting  beside 
him  one  morning,  to  help  him  when  he  came  to 
the  hard  word  Jerusalem  in  the  sentence,  ''Christ 
went  up,"  etc.,  and  I  helped  him  by  saying,  "a 
bean-pole,"  Jim  brought  down  the  house,  to  use  a 


MY  TEACHERS.  37 

modern  expression.  For  this  successful  accomplish- 
ment I  might  have  had  my  bones  broken,  if  I  had 
not  had  a  sufficiency  of  protection  and  protectors. 

Those  school  days  were  on  the  whole  profitable, 
and  the  children,  for  aught  I  know,  made  about 
as  good  improvement  as  is  found  in  the  more 
recent  forms  of  punishment,  incitement  and  disci- 
pline outside  of  true  normal  training. 

My  next  teacher  was  my  father,  who,  having 
been  absent  from  Derby  for  three  or  four  years,  in 
the  business  of  scientific  lecturing,  in  the  various 
towns  and  villages  of  New  England,  returned,  and 
in  company  with  Truman  Coe,  his  brother-in-law, 
took  possession  of  the  old  academy,  and  organized, 
developed  and  built  up  very  rapidly,  a  large  and 
prosperous  school.  I  remember,  quite  distinctly, 
the  boys  and  young  men  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States,  and  from  nearly  all  the  leading  towns 
and  cities  of  New  England.  My  experiences  in 
this  school,  under  my  father's  direction,  were  al- 
together delightful  and  profitable.  He  gave  courses 
of  lectures  with  apparatus  of  his  own  construc- 
tion, upon  physics  and  chemistry,  and  had  classes 
in  botany  and  astronomy,  in  all  of  which  classes  I 
found  myself  (being  the  youngest,  then  about  nine 
years  of  age)  deeply  interested  and  thoroughly  ab- 
sorbed. Woodbridge's  Geography  was  introduced 
at  this  period ;  classes  were  formed  in  all  the  different 
branches,  and  regular  recitations  were  conducted, 
with  a  system  of  grading ;  although  I  do  not  re- 
member that  any  special  prizes  were  offered,  save 


38  REMINISCENCES. 

that  these  grades  were  reported  to  the  parents  of 
the  boys  and  girls  in  attendance.  The  boys  and 
girls  were  incited  to  collect  minerals  from  the 
the  bowlders  which  abound  in  all  that  region,  my 
father  aiding  them  in  analyzing,  naming  and  classi- 
fying them.  I  was  as  eager  as  a  boy  well  could 
be  in  the  examination  of  all  the  odd  places  where 
others  were  not  accustomed  to  go.  One  day,  in 
digging  and  searching  in  a  deep  old  ravine  on 
Science  Hill,  I  came  upon  a  peculiar-looking 
bowlder,  which  excited  my  curiosity.  I  made  out 
to  break  it  open.  The  yellow,  glittering  substance 
which  revealed  itself  to  my  astonished  eyes,  ex- 
cited me  beyond  measure.  Taking  a  small  frag- 
ment of  the  golden  discovery  in  my  hand,  and 
running  at  the  very  top  of  my  speed  to  the 
academy,  with  great  excitement  I  presented  to 
father  this  wonderful  find  of  "solid  gold,"  not 
telling  him  where  I  had  found  it.  4 '  Well,  Alfred, " 
said  father,  "you  have  made  a  discovery,  but  you 
never '  heard  of  the  great  discovery  they  made  at 
Jamestown,  Virginia,  did  you  ?"  "No,  sir.  What 
was  it?"  "Why,  they  did  worse  than  you;  they 
loaded  a  ship  with  the  same  kind  of  material  you 
have  here,  and  took  it  to  England,  supposing  that 
they  had  all  made  their  fortunes.  But  sad  was 
their  disappointment  when  they  found  that  in- 
stead of  gold  it  was  merely  '  Fool's  Gold, '  sul- 
phuret  of  iron.  So  you  are  not  the  first  one  that 
has  been  made  a  fool  of  by  that'  mineral. "  It  is 
not  necessary  to  say  that  my  feelings  collapsed, 


MY  TEACHERS.  39 

though  I  was  hardly  willing  to  take  the  word  of 
my  father  against  my  own  eyes.  But  he  con- 
vinced me  by  taking  some  portion  of  it  and  pound- 
ing it,  when  the  hammer  reduced  it  to  mere  dust. 
Taking  then  a  gold  coin  which  he  happened  to 
have  in  his  pocket,  he  showed  me  there  was  quite 
a  difference  between  true  gold  and  the  false. 

It  was  customary  for  father  to  make  excursions 
with  the  pupils,  about  the  neighborhood,  for 
the  purpose  of  finding  every  variety  of  mineral 
that  existed  in  the  bowlders,  also  specimens  for 
botanical  analysis.  These  excursions  were  en- 
joyed exceedingly.  I  remember  an  excursion  to 
Monroe,  Connecticut,  where  I  afterward  taught. 
The  object  of  this  excursion  was  to  investigate  a 
mine  where  fluor  spar  and  copper  were  said  to  be 
found.  The  place  was  reached  and  thoroughly 
examined,  and  some  inferior  specimens  of  fluor 
spar  were  obtained,  but  much  better  specimens  t 
were  purchased  from  those  in  the  neighborhood. 
Our  most  interesting  excursion  was  on  the  first 
steamboat  ever  on  the  Housatonic  River,  having 
been  brought  there  by  Captain  Thomas  Vose,  with 
the  design  of  plying  between  Derby  and  New  York 
City.  Our  excursion  only  extended  as  -far  as 
Stratford,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Housatonic  River.  . 
The  object  of  the  excursion  was  the  finding  of 
seashells  upon  the  beach,  of  digging  clams,  and 
if  possible  to  find  the  habitat  of  oysters.  By 
some  defect  in  the  machinery,  we  failed  to  reach 
our  destination.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a  delight- 


4O  REMINISCENCES. 

ful  day,  and  all  the  students  and  others  enjoyed 
it  immensely.  A  'circumstance  happened  in  the 
dining-saloon,  which  I  heard  my  father  relate 
afterward  several  times,  in  his  conversations,  as 
a  rare  instance  of  self-control. 

Now,  sea-captains  like  Captain  Vose,  who  had 
retired  but  very  recently  from  the  sea,  are  not 
proverbial  for  the  gentleness,  purity  or  piety  of 
their  expressions,  even  on  comparatively  slight 
provocations.  Captain  Vose  was  not  above  the 
average  of  his  class,  as  his  neighbors  well  knew ; 
but  on  this  occasion,  as  the  servant  was  carrying 
out  on  a  large  tray  as  many  dishes  as  he  could 
manage,  by  some  means  or  other  he  let  the  tray 
and  its  contents  fall,  shattering  the  dishes,  and 
scattering  the  fragments.  Captain  Vose,  being 
present,  instead  of  ripping  and  tearing  with  his 
oaths  and  curses,  as  was  expected,  simply  re- 
marked :  "John,  I  am  really  afraid  it  will  take  you 
too  long  to  gather  up  all  these  pieces ;  I  think  I 
will  have  to  help  you." 

The  popularity  of  the  school  increased,  and  con- 
siderable patronage  was  drawn  from  New  York 
City,  the  West  Indies  and  Canada.  Many  students 
came  from  wealthy  families,  and  their  use  of 
money  was  lavish,  and  in  most  cases  quite  detri- 
mental to  their  progress,  health  and  personal 
habits.  The  only  difficulty  that  I  remember  that 
my  father  had  with  any  of  these  young  men,  was 
with  young  Poindexter,  from  Georgia.  He  was 
accustomed  to  bet  heavily  on  any  species  of 


MY  TEACHERS.  41 

gambling  on  which  he  could  find  others  willing  to 
bet  with  him.    One  Saturday  afternoon,  he  offered 
to  bet  $25  with  anybody  against  $5,  that  he  could 
shoot  a  ball  through  a  suspended  silk  handkerchief 
fluttering  in  the  wind.     There  was  a  drinking  fel- ' 
low  about,  who  was  foolish  enough  to  take  up  the 
bet,  or  at  least  said  he  would  bet  $5  against  $25 
that   Poindexter   could    not    do    it.       Poindexter 
failed  in  the  experiment,  and,  as  it  happened,  did 
not  have  the  $25  to  pay  the  bet  with.    But  in  order 
to  ease  off  the  matter,  he  bet  the  same  fellow  that 
he  could  not  take  up  an  empty  flour  barrel,  lying 
near,  and  carry  it  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  never 
lay  it  down.      It  was  but  a  short  distance  to  the 
top  of  the  hill.     This  was  $i  against  $25.     "Beers 
Hotchkiss,"  as  we  always  called  the  fellow,  started 
with  the  barrel  toward  the  top  of  the  hill,  with  his 
usual  springhalt  when  he  was  tipsy.     The  boys  at 
the  same  time  cried:  "Beers,  never  lay  it  down, 
remember  !    Never  lay  it  down  !"    "Oh,  you  go  to 
h ,  I  will  take  care  of  that."     And  so  he  as- 
cended the  hill  with  the  crowd  accompanying  him. 
He  then  found  a  spike  projecting  from  the  side  of 
a  house,  on  which  he  hung  his  barrel,  and  won 
the  second  bet.     Poindexter  was  so   chagrined, 
and  the  boys  laughed  at  him  so  heartily,  that  he 
charged  around  extensively,  and  did  considerable 
damage,  he  himself  not  being  entirely  free  from  the 
effects  of  liquor.     The  matter  came  up   to   my 
father    for    adjudication,    and    the   citizens,   with 
some  of  the  leading  pupils,  declared  that  such  con- 


42  REMINISCENCES. 

duct  should  not  be  passed  by,  that  the  young- 
man  ought  to  be  expelled.  He  was  a  disgrace  to 
the  school,  and  a  nuisance  to  the  town,  etc. 
While  of  course  father  did  not  in  any  sense  apolo- 
gize for  Poindexter,  or  extenuate  the  folly  and 
wickedness  of  his  conduct,  he  declared  that  who- 
ever had  been  wronged  should  prosecute  him.  It 
was  not  his  business  to  control  Poindexter,  or  any 
other  pupils,  in  any  relation^  other  than  those  im- 
mediately connected  with  the  school. 

My  recollections  of  the  closing  of  the  school  are 
very  faint,  but  this  I  know,  that  at  the  close  of 
the  second  year,  father  left  the  school,  and  com- 
menced his  career,  the  establishing  of  lyceums. 

My  next  teacher  was  Mr.  Saunders,  a  recent 
graduate  of  Yale,  who  had  opened  a  private 
school  in.  Derby  Narrows  during  my  absence. 
With  him  I  commenced  the  study  of  Latin  and 
algebra.  The  book  I  used,  which  father  had 
given  me,  was  Colburn's  Primary  Algebra,  in 
which  all  the  subjects  were  developed  by  exam- 
ples rather  than  by  rules.  No  answers  were  given 
to  the  problems.  Mr.  Saunders  had  never  stud- 
ied this  text-book,  and  when  I  thought  he  would 
be  puzzled  with  any  knotty  problem  to  be  solved, 
I  took  some  pride  in  working  it  out  myself,  and 
after  I  had  done  so,  asking  Mr.  Saunders  to  work 
it  for  me.  There  was  a  student  who  had  been 
suspended  from  West  Point  boarding  at  Mrs. 
Allen's  house,  the  same  place  where  Mr.  Saun- 
ders boarded.  He  informed  me  that  Mr.  Saun- 


MY  TEACHERS.  43 

ders  had  come  to  him  several  times  to  solve  the 
said  examples.  When  I  told  .the  West  Pointer 
that  I  had  solved  them,  but  was  amusing  myself 
by  seeing  Mr.  Saunders  stalled,  he  would  hardly 
believe  me,  but  took  it  upon  himself  to  test  my 
assertions  and  satisfy  himself  that  I  had  solved 
every  example  that  Mr.  Saunders  had  brought 
him.  We,  from  that  time,  formed  a  kind  of  con- 
spiracy against  the  teacher,  to  see  how  much  shuf- 
fling and  prevarication  we  could  get  out  of  him. 
Mr.  Saunders  was  preparing  to  be  a  minister, 
and  we  were  wicked  enough  to  make  use  of 
our  opportunity  to  place  him  (in  our  estimation) 
in  a  very  unfavorable  light.  But  the  power  de- 
veloped in  the  combination  of  circumstances  con- 
nected with  it  seemed  to  assure  me  that  I  could 
pursue  mathematics  to  any  extent  without  the  aid 
of  any  teacher.  I  was  then  but  twelve  years  of 
age.  This  power  has  been  tested  since,  and  I 
need  hardly  say  that  I  have  never  called  upon  any 
one  for  help  in  reading  any  of  the  mathematical 
authors  that  I  have  used  in  the  various  classes 
that  I  have  taught  since.  Of  course  I  do  not  nar- 
rate this  circumstance  to  vindicate  or  show  my  ap- 
proval of  the  principle,  or  want  of  principle,  which 
evoked  this  mathematical  power,  but  I  narrate  it 
to  show  how  Mr.  Saunders,  as  my  teacher, 
wrought  in  me  a  decided  advance,  and  by  his 
training,  or  want  of  training,  established  a  de- 
gree of  independence  which',  perhaps,  no  honest 


44  REMINISCENCES. 

teacher,    as    teachers    are   mostly  accustomed   to 
manage,  would  have  done. 

I  commenced  the  study  of  Latin  also,  at  least 
of  Latin  grammar,  with  Mr.  Saunders.  There 
were  several  other  pupils  in  the  class,  young  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  also  my  brother  Dwight,  living 
then  at  my  grandfather's.  The  study  of  Latin 
grammar  was  chiefly  memorizing  paradigms  of 
nouns,  adjectives,  pronouns,  verbs,  etc.;  also  rules, 
remarks,  observations,  exceptions  and  explana- 
tions in  an  endless  array.  My  younger  brother 
was  in  the  same  class,  and  rather  than  submit  to 
such  continued  demands  upon  his  patience  and  in. 
dustry,  without  seeing  any  possible  returns,  he 
preferred  to  submit  to  a  feruling  once  or  twice  a 
day.  Nor  was  he  ever  persuaded  afterward  to 
give  any  serious  study  to  Latin,  or  any  other 
branch,  such  was  the  determined  hostility  that  he 
conceived  to  study  under  this  abominable  manage- 
ment. But  this  was  the  common  and  accepted 
method  of  teaching  Latin  in  those  days,  and  vir- 
tually continues  to  the  present  day,  to  a  large  ex- 
tent, with  most  teachers  who  have  been  trained  in 
colleges  or  by  college  teachers.  Well  may  such 
an  abuse  of  the  human  mind,  merely  to  follow  the 
long  sanctioned  usage  of  college  instruction,  be 
called  the  college  feticli. 

The  only  time  that  I  was  ever  whipped  in 
school  was  by  this  same  college  teacher,  Mr. 
Saunders.  It  happened  on  this  wise:  As  was  the 


MY  TEACHERS.  45 

custom,  I  was  writing  in  my  copy-book  after  the 
copies  set  by  the  teacher,  when  my  seat-mate,  a 
man  of  twenty  years,  commenced  pulling  my 
copy-book  away  from  me.  Of  course,  I  held  on 
to  it.  Mr.  Saunders,  seeing  the  contest,  and  feel- 
ing that  he  ought  to  check  the  disorder  oc- 
casioned, and  that  it  was  necessary  to  make  an 
example  of  somebody,  called  me  up  (the  little, 
weak  one),  and  belabored  one  hand  after  the 
other  most  cruelly,  with  a  heavy  ferule,  giving 
the  real  cause  of  the  disturbance  scarcely  a  re- 
proof. The  indignation  of  the  students  was  be- 
yond control,  and  Mr.  Saunders  found  himself  the 
object  of  increased  disfavor  and  hostility  until  he 
was  compelled  to  close  the  school. 

Soon  after  this  I  was  called  by  my  father 
to  Groton,  Mass.,  where  I  found  him  boarding 
with  the  Rev.  John  Todd.  I  was  entered  as  a 
student  of  Groton  Academy,  under  the  instruction 
of  Mr.  Elizur  Wright.  Both  these  gentlemen 
have  since  become  celebrated,  each  in  his  line; 
the  Rev.  Todd  as  a  noted  evangelist  and  popular 
preacher,  and  by  his  founding  several  educational 
institutions.  His  biography,  written  by  his  son, 
is  more  exciting  and  interesting  than  any  novel. 
Mr.  Todd  was  my  special  admiration  as  a  preacher, 
story-teller,  mechanic  and  friend.  His  interest  in 
my  studies  was  a  great  incitement  to  the  highest 
possible  effort.  I  was  placed  in  classes  consisting 
almost  entirely  of  adults  preparing  for  teaching 
and  for  college,  about  three  weeks  after  they  had 


46  REMINISCENCES. 

commenced  their  study  in  arithmetic,  English 
grammar  and  natural  philosophy.  My  pride  and 
ambition  were  to  pass  a  better  examination  than 
any  of  these  young  ladies  and  gentlemen  at  the 
close  of  the  term,  and  such  was  the  energy 
and  industry  aroused  by  the  combined  manage- 
ment of  Mr.  Todd  and  Mr.  Wright,  that  when  the 
term  expired  I  was  assured  by  Mr.  Wright  that  I 
stood  among  the  very  first  in  this  class  of  adults, 
being  myself  a  little  spindling  boy  of  twelve  years. 
I  remember  Mr.  Wright  as  the  best  teacher,  aside 
from  my  father,  that  I  ever  had.  His  ingenuity 
in  planning  methods  of  exciting  enthusiasm  in  his 
students,  and  his  genial  bearing  toward  us  all, 
had  a  peculiar  influence  upon  me,  who  had  just 
come  from  under  a  regime  so  austere  and  unrea- 
sonable and  unjust  as  that  of  Mr.  Saunders.  It  is 
true,  Mr.  Wright's  methods  were  college  methods, 
chiefly  memorizing  the  text-book  and  working 
the  examples  and  getting  the  answers;  but  the 
spirit  of  the  school,  and  the  respect  that  all  the 
pupils  had  for  the  kindness  and  genial  spirit  of 
our  teacher,  made  work  which  had  before  been 
very  repulsive  quite  attractive  and  exciting.  I 
don't  remember  that  he  ever  punished  a  pupil  or 
kept  one  after  school,  or,  in  fact,  had  any  special 
occasion  even  for  administering  rebuke.  Mr. 
Wright  in  those  days  was  an  acceptable  member 
of  the  Congregational  Church,  of  which  John 
Todd  was  the  pastor.  Since  then,  however,  he 
has  been  a  leader  in  all  sorts  of  infidel  operations. 


MY  TEACHERS.  47 

Another  of  my  worthy  teachers,  who  was  not 
professionally  such,  was  Dr.  Samuel  Beech,  of 
Stamford,  Connecticut.  He  married  my  aunt, 
Mary  Swift,  and  was  a  popular  physician  in  Stam- 
ford and  for  all  that  region.  My  health  failing  the 
second  time  in  Massachusetts,  I  returned  to  Derby. 
When  sufficiently  recovered,  I  was  invited  by  Dr. 
Beech  to  spend  some  time  with  him.  Soon  after 
going  there,  I  obtained  the  position  of  assistant 
postmaster  in  the  distributing  office  of  that  place. 
My  business  training  in  the  post-office  has  been  of 
very  considerable  value  to  me  ever  since.  An  im- 
mense amount  of  mail  matter  passed  through  this 
post-office,  coming  from  all  quarters,  and  being 
distributed  from  this  Central  District  Office.  The 
worthy  postmaster,  a  Mr.  Brown,  was  a  farmer 
of  very  considerable  business  ability,  an  ardent 
Democratic  politician,  and  a  very  genial  gentle- 
man. He  made  my  position  a  very  pleasant  one. 
Several  clerks  were  employed  during  the  hours  of 
distribution  of  mail.  I  was,  however,  in  charge 
of  the  office  at  other  hours,  and  with  the  help  of 
another  clerk,  kept  the  books  of  the  office.  Long 
tiers  of  boxes  and  pigeon-holes  were  ranged  in 
cases  for  the  distribution  of  the  mail  matter.  On 
one  occasion,  the  postmaster  being  present,  aid- 
ing us  in  the  distribution,  having  taken  from  the 
mail-bag  a  package  too  large  to  handle,  placed 
part  of  it,  some  twenty  or  thirty  letters,  on  the 
top  of  one  of  these  cases.  This  pile  of  letters  re- 
mained there  for  three  weeks,  and  might  have  re- 


48  REMINISCENCES. 

mained  there  much  longer,  had  I  not  taken  into 
my  head  to  dust  off  the  tops  of  these  cases.'  The 
pile  of  letters  was  discovered,  and  was  found  to 
be  valuable  letters,  all  from  New  Orleans  to  Bos- 
ton, containing,  nobody  knows  how  much  of 
money  and  drafts.  How  much  interference  with 
'business  this  accident  occasioned,  one  can  only 
conjecture  ;  but  doubtless  much  delay  and  disap- 
pointment to  all  parties  concerned. 

Dr.  Beech  was  especially  kind,  and  cordially  in- 
terested in  my  well-being.  A  very  intelligent  and 
well-read  gentleman ;  he  delighted  to  draw  me  out 
on  all  subjects  on  which  I  was  competent  to  talk, 
frequently  taking  me  in  his  sulky  on  his  profes- 
sional visits,  and  occupying  the  time  of  our  rides 
in  the  most  agreeable  and  exciting  lines  of  conver- 
sation. His  object  was  undoubtedly  to  aid  me  in 
rapid,  correct  and  coherent  expression.  This  was 
not,  however,  done  in  the  line  of  instruction,  but 
rather  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  entertainment, 
he  being  a  man  of  forty  and  I  a  boy  of  sixteen 
years.  The  Doctor  had  been  a  great  reader  him- 
self, and  had  traveled  more  or  less,  and  was 
familiar  with  current  literature,  and  had  a  good 
library.  He  did  not  spare  any  of  these  resources 
in  making  my  stay  with  him  interesting  and  use- 
ful. After  the  distributing  post-office  was  removed 
to  New  York  City,  the  Doctor,  wishing  to  furnish 
me  something  to  do,  purchased  quite  an  extensive 
circulating  library,  and  a  considerable  stock  of 
drugs,  putting  me  in  charge  of  both.  This,  he 


MY  TEACHERS.  49 

said,  would  furnish  me  an  opportunity  of  extend- 
ing my  reading,  as  the  books  he  selected  were 
such  as  I  desired  to  read.  Almost  daily,  or  when- 
ever an  opportunity  offered,  he  was  ready  to  con- 
verse with  me  upon  any  topic  which  I  had  read, 
or  any  subject  in  which  he  was  interested. 

Having  previously  become  acquainted  with  Dr. 
Jennings,  and  having  known  something  of  his 
theory  about  medicine,  I  took  it  upon  myself  to 
venture  the  opinion  that  all  medicines  were  in- 
jurious any  further  than  they  excited  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  patient,  and  by  that  means  affording 
help  to  the  working  of  the  resources  of  nature 
in  restoration  to  health.  This  was  a,  new  subject 
of  discussion  and  comment,  the  Doctor  maintain- 
ing and  demonstrating,  I  have  no  doubt  to  his 
own  satisfaction,  that  medicines  under  his  own  pre- 
scriptions were  generally  effectual  as  remedies. 
He  cited  numerous  examples  where  disease  had 
continued  for  weeks  and  months,  and  yielded  im- 
mediately to  his  application  of  the  proper  remedies. 
I  still  maintained  on  my  side  of  the  argument  that 
in  every  such  case  it  might  be  possible  that  the 
disease  had  reached  its  crisis  about  the  time  that 
the  medicine  had  been  administered,  and  that  the 
patient  would  probably  have  recovered  quite  as- 
quickly,  if  not  more  quickly,  if  the  supposed 
remedy  had  -not  been  used.  Thus  the  Doctor  and 
I  kept  up  the  discussion,  always  returning  to  it 
whenever  otKer  subject  matter  failed.  The  Doc- 
tor was  very  patient  with  my  pertinacity,  and  per- 
4 


5<D  REMINISCENCES. 

haps  did  not  more  than  half  believe  that  I  was  in 
earnest,  nor  was  I  very  sure  of  my  ground.  The 
Doctor,  however,  was  one  of  my  most  interesting 
teachers,  and  aided  me  very  much,  as  was  his  ob- 
ject, in  enlarging  my  talking  vocabulary.  I  had 
written  considerably  before  this,  but  never  enjoyed 
so  desirable  an  opportunity  of  expressing  myself 
coherently  and  argumentatively  with  a  competent 
interlocutor.  I  remember  the  Doctor  with  a  great 
deal  of  satisfaction  and  gratitude. 

In  illustrating  the  Doctor's  character  still  further, 
I  will  briefly  relate  an  incident  occurring  after  he 
removed  to  Bridgeport,  Connecticut.  The  lead- 
ing physician  in  Bridgeport  had  been  a  Dr.  Sum- 
mers, an  ardent  politician.  The  dissatisfaction 
which  prevailed  among  the  leading  families  of 
Bridgeport,  with  the  moral  character  of  Dr.  Sum- 
mers, was  perhaps  what  led  them  to  invite  Dr. 
Beech  from  Stamford  to  Bridgeport.  He  speedily 
secured  a  good  practice  in  Bridgeport,  to  the  no 
small  discomfiture  of  Dr.  Summers,  who  spared  no 
opportunity  of  traducing  and  abusing  Dr.  Beech 
behind  his  back.  He  had  his  emissaries  here  and 
there  and  everywhere  with  special  instructions  to 
misrepresent  the  Doctor's  practice,  and  to  set  in 
circulation  false  reports,  not  only  against  his  pro- 
fessional work,  but  also  against  his  personal  char- 
acter. But  the  Doctor's  friends  were  on  the  alert, 
and  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Summers  recoiled  upon  him- 
self. 

A  traveler  had  stopped  at  the  hotel  where  Dr. 


MY  TEACHERS.  51 

Summers  was  accustomed  to  hold  forth,  and 
where,  indeed,  he  had  his  office,  and  was  taken 
sick  there.  Dr.  Beech  was  called  to  attend  to  the 
case.  As  he  entered  the  office  of  the  hotel  to 
inquire  where  the  patient  could  be  found,  he  saw 
Dr.  Summers.  Walking  up  to  him,  he  very  geni- 
ally offered  his  hand,  and  passed  the  compliments 
with  him  as  he  would  with  any  other  gentleman, 
regardless  of  all  the  vile  work  of  Dr.  Summers. 
As  Dr.  Beech  passed  out  of  the  office,  the  by- 
standers expressed  their  surprise  that  the  two 
doctors  should  meet  so  kindly,  who  were  at 
swords'  points — they  only  having  heard  Summers' 
side  of  the  matter.  Summers  replied :  "Oh,  well, 

Beech  is  such  a gentleman,  that  I  can't 

do  a  thing  with  him,  anyhow.  I  might  as  well 
let  him  run  and  do  his  worst." 

Another  instance  of  Dr.  Beech's  penetration 
and  general  information  I  remember  very  dis- 
tinctly. My  Aunt  Mary  and  I  were  sitting  at  the 
dinner  table,  when  Dr.  Beech,  coming  in  hastily, 
said:  "Alfred,  there  is  a  gentleman  over  here  at 
the  hotel,  a  splendid-looking  man,  a  magnificent 
specimen;  I  want  you  to  go  and  see  him;  I  never 
saw  so  remarkable  a  head  in  all  my  life."  I  went 
over  immediately  with  the  doctor,  and  we  passed 
through  the  hall  toward  the  door  into  the  dining- 
room.  The  moment  I  saw  the  stranger,  I  recog- 
nized him  as  Daniel  Webster,  and  announced 
the  fact  to  Dr.  Beech,  saying,  also,  that  I  had  my 
suspicions  that  it  was  he ;  for  I  thought  there  was 


52  REMINISCENCES. 

no  other  man  in  America,  or  elsewhere,  who  had 
the  intellect  which  his  physiognomy  indicated.  I 
had  seen  Mr.  Webster  frequently  in  Boston. 

My  grandfather  Holbrook  I  never  knew,  as  he 
died  about  the  time  of  my  birth ;  but  my  maternal 
grandfather,  Zephaniah  Swift,  holds  a  venerated 
place  among  my  teachers.  Among  my  earliest 
recollections  are  my  pleasant  visits  and  play-days 
with  Aunt  Persis  and  Uncle  Urbane.  They  were 
respectively  two  and  four  years  older  than  I ;  but 
we  were  much  together  in  my  childhood  life,  as 
schoolmates  and  as  playmates.  Although  our 
Sabbaths  were  of  the  Puritan  cast,  subject  to  the 
rigorous  restraints  coming  down  from  the  previ- 
ous Puritan  ancestors,  and  it  was-  unlawful  to* 
whistle  and  wicked  to  find  one's  self  in  any  kind 
of  amusement,  or  in  reading  any  books  that  were 
not  of  the  most  devout  character;  yet,  by  some 
means,  we  managed  to  make  our  Sabbaths  quite 
tolerable,  and  it  was  really  a  treat  for  me  to  spend 
the  Sabbath  at  my  grandfather's  with  this  uncle 
and  aunt.  Then  again,  there  were  spinning  visits 
and  social  visits  and  Thanksgivings  as  extra  occa- 
sions, when  all  Puritan  restraints  seemed  to  be 
forgotten,  and  young,  joyous  life  seemed  to  make 
reprisals  for  its  subjugation  on  Sabbath  and  fast- 
days. 

Now,  it  was  both  unlawful  and  wicked  to  play 
ball  on  fast-day,  and  none  of  my  associates  in 
town  were  ever  known  to  engage  in  such  unholy 
enterprises  and  sinful  amusements  on  fast-days; 


MY  TEACHERS.  53 

but  other  wicked  boys,  with  whom  I  had  nothing 
to  do,  made  it  their  special  delight  and  boast  to 
get  together  in  some  quiet,  concealed  place,  and 
enjoy  themselves,  more  especially  because  it  was  a 
violation  of  law.  Not  infrequently,  however,  they 
found  the  constable  after  them,  or  other  officers 
of  the  peace.  On  one  occasion  I  remember  hear- 
ing one  of  those  bad  boys  relate  with  great  gusto 
a  trick  they  served  the  constable,  who  had  gone 
after  them.  They  managed  to  place  themselves 
on  the  remote  side  of  a  deep  ditch,  across  which 
they  had  thrown  a  couple  of  planks.  These  planks 
they  had  carefully  sawed  underneath,  so  that  any 
one  stepping  upon  them  would  be  sure  to  go 
•down  with  the  planks  into  the  water.  They,  of 
course,  were  playing  near  the  planks,  and  when 
the  officer  came  they  took  to  their  heels,  but  did 
not  retreat  so  far  but  that  they  could  see  the  fun 
and  hear  the  officer  call  for  help.  They  gathered 
about  him  and  offered  to  help  him  out  if  he  would 
agree  not  to  apprehend  them.  The  water  was 
very  cold,  and  after  he  had  floundered  around  for 
awhile,  the  boys  found  a  rail,  and  helped  him  out. 
Soon  after,  this  blue  law,  perhaps  the  only 
one  in  the  Connecticut  Code,  was  repealed. 
Then  the  boys  thought  no  more  of  playing 
on  fast-days  than  on  any  other.  The  testimony 
of  my  grandfather  and  grandmother,  and  of 
all  my  aunts  and  uncles,  against  such  wicked- 
ness, and  the  expressions  of  contempt,  mingled 
with  pity,  in  which  they  depicted  those  engaged 


54  REMINISCENCES. 

in  these  law-breaking  amusements,  no  doubt  had 
their  influence  in  training  us  children  arid  grand- 
children to  a  respect  for  the  laws  and  for  the  pro- 
prieties of  life.  Our  Sabbaths,  however,  always 
ended  at  sundown,  having  begun  the  night  previ- 
ous at  sundown.  No  cows  were  milked  before 
sundown  on  Sabbath,  nor  other  chores  done,  but 
Saturday  night  all  work  was  completed  and  laid 
aside  before  sundown.  This  arrangement  at  my 
grandfather's,  which  was  also  adhered  to  by  all 
my  Presbyterian  relatives,  involved  me  once  in  a 
sad  dilemma.  It  was  in  the  springtime,  when  - 
hoop-rolling  was  having 'its  turn,  an  amusement 
in  which  I  thought  I  excelled,  and  therefore  en- 
joyed, being  able  to  roll  the  hoop  farther  and 
faster  than  any  of  my  competitors.  So  it  happened 
one  cloudy  Sunday  afternoon,  when  I  had  not 
consulted  the  clock  or  the  almanac  very  carefully 
to  ascertain  what  time  the  sun  was  setting,  or  was 
about  to  set,  I  was  out  on  the  street  rolling  my 
hoop.  This  being  duly  reported  to  my  grand- 
parents, caused  them  a  great  deal  of  grief  That 
their  grandson  should  be  so  lawless,  and  have  so 
little  respect  for  their  feelings,  as  to  roll  a  hoop  in 
the  public  streets  on  Sabbath  day,  was  almost 
more  than  they  could  bear.  This  happened  when 
I  was  about  eight  or  nine  years  of  age,  as  nearly 
as  I  can  remember.  I  only  relate  it  to  show  the 
interest  that  my  grandparents  took  in  my  moral 
training.  When  I  came  to  explain  to  them  that  I 
was  mistaken  about  the  time,  and  thought  the  sun 


MY  TEACHERS.  55 

was  down,  and  had  no  design  whatever  of  break- 
ing the  Sabbath,  and  would  not  have  done  so  for 
anything,  their  grief  was  mollified  and  their  good 
will  restored. 

My  grandfather's  house  was  frequently  called 
the  ' '  Ministers'  Tavern. "  It  was  certainly  a  place 
of  very  frequent  resort  for  ministers  of  all  classes, 
especially  for  those  who  had  earned  the  opprobri- 
ous title  of  "Everlasting  Candidate."  I  have 
known  such  individuals  to  remain  at  my  grand- 
father's for  weeks,  and  be  treated  with  all  courtesy 
and  kindness.  One  especially,  Mr.  Griswold,  I 
hold  in  anything  but  sacred  remembrance.  It 
was  customary  for  the  boys  to  occupy  one  side  of 
the  gallery  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the 
girls  the  other.  It  was  a  hard  task  for  the  boys 
to  give  their  continued  attention  to  the  long, 
prosy  sermons  of  those  days,  and  it  was  not  an 
uncommon  thing  for  a  group  of  boys  in  the  gal- 
lery to  engage  in  some  more  edifying,  or  at  least, 
more  amusing,  occupation  than  that  of  listening 
to  the  preacher.  On  one  occasion  like  this, 
when  Mr.  Griswold  was  occupying  the  pulpit, 
some  one  or  two  boys  giggled  loud  enough 
to  attract  Mr.  Griswold's  attention.  Shutting  his 
Bible  with  a  violent  noise,  he  said:  "Boys,  boys, 
boys!  there  in  the  gallery,  make  less  noise!  I 
am  afraid  you  will  wake  your  parents  below!" 
No  doubt  the  parents  were  aroused  by  this  time. 

Mr.  Griswold  had  a  peculiar  management  of  his 
eyes.     It  seemed  to  us  boys  that,  while  one  eye 


56  REMINISCENCES. 

was  directed  to  his  manuscript,  which  he  read  in 
continuity,  the  other  eye  was  wandering  around 
the  galleries,  looking  after  the  boys,  to  see  what 
they  were  about.  After  this  attack  upon  our 
peace  and  amusements,  we  became  a  little  more 
discreet,  and,  perhaps,  practiced  more  conceal- 
ment in  our  arrangements  for  our  amusements. 

My  grandfather  took  immediate  action  upon  the 
subject  of  temperance  as  soon  as  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher's  twelve  sermons  reached  him.  He  spared 
no  effort  to  secure  the  signatures  to  the  pledge 
against  the  use  of  distilled  liquors  from  all  the 
members  of  his  church  and  congregation.  To  this 
end  he  invited  Mr.  Brewster,  of  carriage-making 
fame,  from  New  Haven,  and  a  tytr.  Gilbert,  are- 
formed  drunkard,  to  lecture  in  his  church  on  tKe 
subject  of  temperance.  These  were  the  first  tem- 
perance lectures  I  ever  heard.  Mr.  Brewster,  being 
an  educated  man,  gave  an  ornate  and  somewhat 
effective  exhortation  on  the  subject  of  temperance, 
but  Mr.  Gilbert  carried  the  audience  with  him. 
In  relating  his  experiences,  his  fall,  his  sufferings, 
and  the  wrongs  he  had  inflicted  on  his  family  and 
on  the  church,  his  deliverance  by  means  of  the 
pledge,  he  swayed  the  audience,  though  an  uned- 
ucated man,  as  I  had  never  known  before;  now  in 
tears  and  sobs  all  over  the  house,  then  again  in  ir- 
repressible laughter.  The  result  of  these  lectures 
was,  that  when  the  pledge  was  circulated,  every 
member  of  my  grandfather's  church  signed  the 
pledge,  except  two  deacons,  Deacon  S— —  and 


MY  TEACHERS.  57 

Deacon  C .     Grandfather  had  previously  used 

his  personal  influence  as  far  as  possible  with 
these  gentlemen.  Each  one  had  his  own  special 
reason  for  not  signing  the  pledge,  and  they  were 
such  reasons  as  are  prevalent  at  this  time.  "I 
don't  want  to  sign  away  my  liberty ;  I  don't  drink 
except  when  I  need  it ;  I  have  no  objection  to  others 
signing  it  if  they  feel  it  necessary.  If  I  ever  ieel 
so,  I  will  sign  the  pledge.  As  I  now  feel,  it  will 
be  declaring  that  I  have  lost  control  of  myself,  and 
am  obliged  to  pledge  myself  in  order  to  keep 
from  drinking  too  much,  which  certainly  is  not 
the  case."  The  more  my  grandfather  talked  with 
these  gentlemen,  the  more  he  became  convinced 
that  they,  more  than  any  others,  needed  the  re- 
straining influence  of  the  pledge,  and  that  they 
were  both,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  the  slaves 
of  cider  brandy.  Hoping  still  to  reach  them  and 
to  extricate  them  from  the  snare  in  which  he 
found  them,  grandfather  employed  Dr.  Hewitt,  ot 
Bridgeport,  a  powerful  preacher,  to  fill  his  pulpit 
on  a  certain  Sabbath,  and  to  preach  or  lecture  on 
temperance  in  the  evening.  Practicing  perhaps  a 
little  wiliness,  it  was  not  announced  on  what  sub- 
ject Dr.  Hewitt  would  preach  in  the  evening,  my 
grandfather  fearing  that  since  so  much  had  been 
said  and  done  with  and  for  the  deacons,  that  they 
would  fail  to  be  present  if  they  knew  that  Dr. 
Hewitt  was  to  preach  on  temperance,  especially 
as  they  would  know,  of  course,  that  the  preach- 
ing was  aimed  chiefly  at  them.  A  large  congre- 


58  REMINISCENCES. 

gation  assembled,  Dr.  Hewitt's  reputation  as  an 
orator  being  sufficient  to  fill  a  house  anywhere. 
The  deacons  were  present.  What  his  text  was, 
I  do  not  remember,  but  the  sermon  was  a  temper- 
ance sermon,  and  effectual  in  a  manner  that  grand- 
father hardly  anticipated.  It  was  one  of  those 
sermons  that  everybody  listens  to  with  unremitting 
attention  and  cumulative  interest.  The  applica- 
tion of  his  sermon  was  something  like  this : 
' 'Brethren,  from  all  these  considerations  which  I 
have  presented,  you  will  agree  with  me  that  that 
one  of  our  fellow-citizens,  who  does  not  permit  his 
name  and  his  influence  to  be  used  to  check  such  a 
dire  flood  of  iniquity  and  destruction  as  is  sweep- 
ing over  the  land,  and  carrying  with  it  so  many 
thousands  of  victims,  is,  to  say  the  least,  charge- 
able with  a  want  of  good  citizenship  and  of  patri- 
otism. But  if  there  should  be  any  member  of  this, 
church,  or  of  any  other  church  of  Christ,  who  re- 
fuses to  use  his  utmost  endeavors  for  the  benefit 
of  his  fell-ow-men  and  for  the  salvation  of  those  for 
whom  Christ  has  died,*  and  for  whom  he  has 
pledged  himself  to  work  on  every  occasion  and  op- 
portunity that  the  Lord  and  Master  shall  give  him 
to  save  the  sinner  from  death  and  his  soul  from 
eternal  destruction,  we  can  hardly  say  for  such  a 
church-member,  who  refuses  to  sign  the  pledge, 
that  he  is  using  his  full  privilege,  as  a  living 
member  of  the  church  of  Christ,  to  honor  his  Mas- 
ter. Such  being  the  case,  what  shall  we  say 
of  that  deacon,  ordained  for  special  service  as 


MY  TEACHERS.  59 

leader  in  the  ranks  of  Christian  wokers,  as  an  as- 
sistant of  the  pastor  in  his  blessed  work,  as  a  man 
who  shall  be  '  void  of  offense, '  and  '  as  a  lively 
stone  in  the  house  of  God  ' — what  shall  we  say  of 
that  deacon  who  refuses  to  give  his  name  and  his 
entire  influence  and  character,  however  much  self- 
denial  it  may  require  of  him ; — what  shall  we  say,  I 
repeat  it,  of  such,  a  deacon,  who  proves  such  a 
recreant  to  the  vows  of  his  ordination,  and  his  love 
for  his  Savior  and  of  his  love  for  souls  ?' '  With 
this  climax  the  Doctor  held  himself  silent  for  per- 
haps half  a  minute,  when  he  hissed  a  whisper, 
which  was  distinctly  heard  in  the  most  remote 
part  of  the  building,  like  this:  "  Thank  God,  rum- 
drinking  deacons  will  not  live  forever."  With  this 
the  sermon  closed.  The  two  deacons  never  ap- 
peared in  the  church  again.  Deacon  C 

never  was  known  to  attend  any  church  or  any  re- 
ligious services  anywhere,  to  his  death.  He  died 

a  drunkard.     Deacon  S ,  after  some  lapse  of 

time,  attended  the  Episcopal  services ;  whether  or 
not  he  joined  the  Episcopal  Church,  I  do  not 
know.  He  died  in  consequence  of  a  slight  wound, 
which  the  doctors  said  might  have  healed  in  a 
few  days,  but  so- filled  with  alcohol  was  his  entire 
system,  that  this  wound  could  not  be  healed; 
inflammation  and  gangrene  set  in,  and  speedily  re- 
sulted in  death.  So  that  grandfather's  efforts  in 
behalf  of  his  deacons,  at  least  removed  them  out 
of  the  way  as  stumbling  blocks,  to  the  possibly 
more  rapid  hastening  of  their  lamentable  end. 


6O  REMINISCENCES. 

The  Mr.  Gilbert,  of  whom  I  was  speaking,  con- 
tinued for  seven  years  as  a  most  effective  worker 
in  the  temperance  cause.  Before  he  gave  himself 
up  to  drink,  he  had  been  a  worthy  mechanic,  had 
accumulated  property,  had  secured  a  good  home ; 
but  in  consequence  of  yielding  to  this  passion, 
had  lost  control  of  a  good  business,  mortgaged  his 
home  for  all  it  was  worth,  lost  his  standing  in 
society,  and  given  up  his  membership  in  the  Meth- 
odist Church.  When,  however,  he  reformed,  and 
became  an  outspoken  temperance  man,  an  inde- 
fatigable and  powerful  worker  in  the  cause,  he  was 
taken  back  into  the  church,  and  restored  to  his 
former  standing  as  a  local  preacher.  He  also  re- 
covered his  property,  and  was  enjoying  his  posi- 
tion in  society,  his  leadership  in  politics,  and  his 
control  of  a  lucrative  business,  as  before  he  had 
abandoned  himself  to  drink  ;  in  fact,  he  seemed  to 
be  more  than  reinstated  in  his  former  prosperity 
and  standing.  His  house  was  the  home  of  the 
Methodist  ministers,  and  his  daughter  was  engaged 
to  a  young  circuit-rider.  At  the  wedding,  wine 
was  introduced ;  wine,  ciders  and  fermented  drinks 
not  yet  being  tabooed  by  the  pledge.  As  the 
wine  was  passed  around  once  or  twice,  Mr.  Gilbert 
refused  it.  His  daughter,  noticing  the  fact,  took 
a  wineglass  from  the  table,  ran  across  the  room  to 
her  father,  and  asked  him  if  he  would  not  take 
some  wine  with  the  rest  of  the  party.  He  replied, 
"No,  daughter,  I  do  not  wish  for  any  wine." 
"But,"  said  she,  "Father,  I  was  never  married 


•  MY  TEACHERS.  6 1 

before,  I  never  expect  to  be  married  again ;  you 
will  take  some  "wine  now  at  the  first  wedding  that 
has  ever  taken  place  in  your  house ;  I  am  sure  you 
will  take  some  wine  with  me,  papa."  He  took  the 
wine  and  drank  it,  and  in  a  few  minutes  went 
across  the  room  and  took  another  glassful,  and 
then  another  and  another,  until,  before  the  party 
retired,  it  was  found  the  good  man  was  drunk.  This 
mastery  of  liquor  over  his  will-power,  thus  re- 
established by  his  daughter's  persuasions,  con- 
tinued, so  far  as  I  know,  to  his  death.  Remark  is 
superfluous. 

My  grandfather's  house  was  the  frequent  resort 
of  the  President  and  Professors  of  Yale  College. 
There  I  was  accustomed  to  listen  to  the  conversa- 
tion of  those  worthy  and  dignified  gentlemen ;  for 
as  well  as  I  can  remember,  I  found  it  convenient 
whenever  any  such  distinguished  company  was  ex- 
pected to  be  there,  my  Aunt  Persis  apprising  me 
and  urging  me  to  go  home  with  her.  Thus,  in 
early  life,  up  to  the  time  of  my  leaving  Derby,  I 
enjoyed  the  best  opportunities  of  seeing  and  know- 
ing the  very  finest  specimens  of  human  intellect 
and  dignity.  From  the  first,  I  enjoyed  the  con- 
versations that  went  on  at  the  table  and  elsewhere, 
and  spared  no  pains  or  reasonable  opportunity  to 
be  present  as  a  listener.  Then  again,  I  was  sent 
with  the  horse  and  buggy  to  New  Haven,  to  bring 
out  one  of  the  professors  to  fill  grandfather's  pulpit, 
when  his  other  duties  prevented  him  from  writing 
his  sermon.  Thus,  my  early  standards,  through 


62  REMINISCENCES.  • 

my  grandfather's  kindness  in  always  permitting 
me  to  enjoy  such  associations,  in  the  way  of  my 
education,  were  the  best  possible  for  those  times. 

I  remember  very  well  when  grandfather  brought 
the  first  copy  of  Webster's  Unabridged,  two  large 
quarto  volumes,  home  from  New  Haven.  Hap- 
pening to  be  there  when  they  arrived,  they  were 
a  great  treat,  and  were  considered  a  perfect  treas- 
ure-house, the  more  so  as  my  grandfather  spared 
no  means  of  incitement  to  enhance  my  interest  in 
the  study  of  these  volumes.  I  read  scores  of 
pages  consecutively,  time  after  time,  as  I  had  op- 
portunity, of  these  volumes,  studying  as  I  was 
able,  the  etymology  of  the  words,  the  various  sig- 
nifications being  especially  interesting  in  the  ex- 
amples given  of  the  authorities  for  the  special 
meanings  and  uses  of  words.  In  fact,  my  grand- 
father humorously  called  me  the  little  bookworm, 
and  in  the  same  spirit  of  humor,  pretending  to  be 
at  a  loss  now  and  then  for  the  pronunciation  of  a 
word,  or  for  its  signification,  or  for  the  best  word  to 
use  for  the  expression  of  an  idea,  would  come  to  me 
very  gently  and  meekly  to  get  my  opinion  about 
it.  Of  course,  I  did  the  best  I  could,  and  was  al- 
ways encouraged  by  his  kindness  and  appreciation 
of  my  childish  efforts  to  grapple  the  mighty  prob- 
lems in  precision  and  taste,  which  he  delighted  to 
throw  upon  me. 

The  usages  of  his  family  were  a  part  of  my  train- 
ing. In  family  prayers,  which  grandfather  always 
conducted  himself,  after  the  reading  of  a  chapter, 


MY  TEACHERS.  63 

verse  by  verse,  all  around  the  whole  circle  of  chiL 
dren,  grandchildren,  employes  and  visitors,  the 
whole  family  stood,  in  my  earliest  recollections, 
while  prayer  was  being  offered,  each  leaning  upon 
his  chair.  Before  every  meal,  too,  the  blessing  was 
asked,  the  family  all  standing,  each  behind  his 
chair.  After  the  meal,  the  family  rising  and  tak- 
ing the  same  position  as  before,  thanks  were  re- 
turned, and  seldom  did  any  one  leave  the  table 
before  the  "  returning  of  thanks."  At  the  table, 
the  food  being  placed  upon  central  dishes,  each 
helped  himself,  save  perhaps  the  youngest  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren,  who  were  served  by  the 
grandmother,  or  one  of  the  aunts.  It  was  not 
considered  good  form  to  eat  butter  while  meat  was 
on  the  plate.  The  general  butter-plates  were  so 
arranged  that  each  cut  off  as  much  butter  with  his 
own  knife  as  he  would  spread  for  the  time  being 
upon  his  piece  of  bread.  The  cutting  off  of  a 
larger  mass  of  butter,  and  placing  it  upon  the  side 
of  the  plate,  rather  than  that  each  should  help  him- 
self continuously  from  the  common  plate,  was  an 
innovation.  No  butter-knives  were  used  in  those 
days,  and  individual  butter-plates  were  unknown, 
No  napkins  were  seen  in  the  hands  or  laps  of  any, 
but  each  one  used  his  own  handkerchief  when  nec- 
essary, at  the  table.  No  butter  was  used  on  cake, 
and  no  sugar  or  sirup  on  pie.  Nothing  that  any 
animal  could  eat  must.be  thrown  in  the  fire.  It 
was  wasteful  and  wicked.  Cider  was  more  gen- 
erally drank  at  the  table  for  dinner,  coffee  for 


64  REMINISCENCES. 

breakfast,  and  tea  for  supper.  Not  infrequently, 
however,  our  coffee  was  grown  in  the  rye-field,  and 
being  properly  browned,  made  us  a  very  palatable 
drink,  certainly  not  very  stimulating. 

The  best  people  of  New  Haven,  Andover,  Bos- 
ton and  New  York  were  entertained  at  my  grand- 
father's hospitable  board.  There  seemed  to  be 
no  end  to  his  acquaintance  with  Congregational 
ministers,  in  those  days  called  Presbyterians.  For 
the  most  part,  these  gentlemen  were  to  the  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren  especially,  wejcome,  and 
being  all  college  graduates,  much  of  the  time  of 
the  visits  was  occupied  in  the  narration  of  college 
experiences.  And  thus,  in  early  days,  did  I  get 
the  feeling  that  college  life  was  not  one  of  special 
earnestness,  or  of  high-toned  moral  power.  For 
most,  even  in  those  days,  that  I  heard  of  college 
life  from  these  ministers  and  professors,  was  the 
narration  of  college  tricks  upon  teachers,  fellow- 
pupils,  or  citizens.  With  special  gusto  would 
most  of  these  reverend  fathers  speak  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  "  came  it  "  over  the  professors 
in  passing  muster  at  recitations  and  -examinations, 
and  get  their  grades  (honorably  or  passably)  with- 
out deserving  them. 

I  remember  very  well  the  square  case  contain- 
ing twelve  bottles  filled  with  the  best  of  liquors, 
and  the  manner  in  which  the  bottles  were  applied 
to  for  the  filling  of  the  decanters  which  were  used 
on  various  occasions,  with  liberality  proportioned 
to  the  dignity,  position  or  fame  of  the  visitor. 


MY  TEACHERS.  65 

My  grandfather  himself,  though  not  a  total  ab- 
stinence man,  rarely,  according  to  my  remem- 
brance, partook  of  any  stimulant,  nor  did  he 
furnish  it  to  any  of  his  work-hands,  excepting  in 
haying,  in  harvest,  or  when  the  help  of  neighbors 
was  required ;  as,  for  instance,  at  the  raising  of 
a  barn,  the  digging  of  a  well,  or  some  extra  work 
of  this  kind.  All  these  usages,  in  my  childish  es- 
timation, were  the  right  thing  to  do,  and  were 
doubtless  according  to  the  best  usages  of  the  best 
society,  although  they  have  been  very  much  modi- 
fied since  in  most  intelligent  families.  Thus,  my 
grandfather,  with  the  usages  of  his  family,  and  his 
wide  acquaintance,  was  one  of  my  earliest  and 
most  venerated  teachers. 

My  Grandfather  Holbrook,  whom  I  never  saw, 
as  he  died  a  short  time  previous  to  my  birth,  was 
also  indirectly  one  of  my  early  teachers,  especially 
as  he  was  quoted  constantly  by  my  aunts  and  others 
as  a  man  of  unswerving  principle,  of  great  public 
spirit,  of  determined  purpose  and  of  a  pure  life. 
Many  of  his  peculiarities  were  related  in  my  hear- 
ing. These  ever  excited  a  high  degree  of  venera- 
tion, and,  no  doubt,  had  a  very  positive  influence 
in  determining  me  to  lead  a  pure,  useful  and  pro- 
gressive life.  His  service  in  the  Revolutionary 
War  was  narrated — his  raising  a  company  among 
his  fellow-citizens ;  his  being  appointed  colonel  of 
a  regiment  and  his  meeting  the  British  forces  at 
East  Haven,  where  a  large  band  of  marauders 
had  landed,  burned  and  destroyed  all  within  their 
5 


66  REMINISCENCES. 

reach;  his  success  in  driving  them  back  to  their 
ships,  and  his  ever  rejecting  the  military  title  and 
preferring  that  of  "Deacon,"  thus  recognizing  his 
office  in  the  church  as  more  worthy  of  regard 
than  his  position  in  the  army.  From  the  report 
of  his  children  and  others  I  learned  that  he  was 
the  leading  spirit  in  every  good  enterprise  of  the 
times.  As  agriculture  was  his  principal  business, 
he  was  engaged  in  one  improvement  after  another, 
introducing  the  best  seeds,  having  the  most  profit- 
able crops  and  the  most  valuable  stock  upon  his 
own  farm,  and  thus  inciting  his  neighbors  to  like 
improvement.  When  plaster  of  Paris  was  first  in- 
troduced as  a  valuable  manure,  in  order  to  influ- 
ence his  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens  to  use  this 
fertilizer,  he  sowed  a  quantity  upon  one  of  his 
meadows,  which  was  visible  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance in  all  directions  from  the  hills.  On  another 
meadow,  similarly  situated,  he  sowed  a  quantity 
in  the  form  of  the  letters  D-a-n-i-e-l  H-o-l-b:r-o-o-k. 
By  the  superior  verdure  and  growth  his  name 
could  be  read  on  that  meadow  for  miles  in  nearly 
all  directions.  His  farm,  whether  named  by  him- 
self or  others,  was  called  "Happy  Valley."  It 
not  only  embraced  the  valley,  but  hundreds  of 
acres  around  over  the  hills  in  three  directions. 
My  father  was  a  determined  anti-Mason.  In- 
quiring of  him  one  day  why  he  was  so  opposed  to 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  he  told  me  that  his  first 
opposition  arose  from  the  reports  of  my  grand- 
father Holbrook,  who  had  been  a  leading  Mason 


MY  TEACHERS.  6/ 

of  the  Derby  Lodge.  He  had  quietly  abandoned 
the  lodge  and  all  connection  with  it  many  years 
before  his  death,  giving  as  his  reason  that  the 
lodge  urged  many  of  its  claims  in  opposition  to 
those  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  that  he  felt 
that  the  established  order  and  privileges  of  the 
Christian  religion  were  immeasurably  more  ef- 
fective for  the  progress  of  society  and  for  the 
safety  of  the  individual  than  anything  that  Ma- 
sonry could  or  would  furnish.  For  these  reasons 
he  abandoned  the  lodge  and  clung  to  the  church. 
Another  reason  he  offered  was,  that  the  great 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  lodge,  in  their  fre- 
quent meetings,  no  women  being  present,  were 
induced,  out  of  a  feeling  of  good  fellowship,  to 
use  more  wine  and  brandy  than  was  prudent  or 
right. 

My  grandfather^  was  one  of  the  first  who  in- 
vested in  lands  in  New  Connecticut,  now  called 
Western  Reserve.  He  was  engaged  in  this  line 
of  purchase  with  other  leading  citizens,  among 
whom  was  Deacon  Tomlinson,  of  Great  Hill. 
General  Cleveland  was  their  agent.  He  located 
himself  at  the  port  now  called  Cleveland  after 
him,  and  had  the  general  control  of  all  those 
lands  then  purchased  by  the  citizens  of  Derby. 
Several  different  townships  were  purchased.  One 
in  Loraine  County  was  named  Holbrook  after  my 
grandfather;  another  was  named  Kirtland  after  a 
gentleman  who  took  the  place  of  General  Cleve- 
land. It  was  in  this  township  that  my  Uncle 


68  REMINISCENCES. 

David  and  three  of  my  aunts,  with  their  husbands 
and  families,  afterward  settled  on  lands  coming 
from  my  grandfather's  estate.  It  was  related  by 
my  aunts  that  if  either  Deacon  Tomlinson  or 
Deacon  Holbrook  received  a  letter  on  Saturday 
containing  information  in  which  the  other  was  in- 
terested, when  they  met  on  Sabbath  at  the  public 
services,  neither  communicated  to  the  other  even 
the  fact  that  he  had  received  such  a  letter,  but  de- 
ferred the  matter  entirely  until  the  next  day, 
when  the  one  who  received  the  letter  rode  a  dis- 
tance of  six  or  eight  miles  to  confer  with  the 
other  upon  the  subject-matter  of  the  letter. 

One  of  my  grandfather's  farms  was  located  in 
Choosetown,  afterward  called  Humphreysville,  now 
Seymour.  This  farm  was  tilled  by  a  negro  slave, 
by  the  name  of  Richard.  Of  course  this  was  be- 
fore any  laws  looking  toward  manumission  were 
enacted.  Richard  was  a  very  pious  and  reliable 
negro.  How  much  my  grandfather  paid  for  him, 
or  whether  he  was  born  in  the  family  from  slaves 
previously  purchased,  I  am  not  able  to  say;  but 
he  was  very  much  respected  and  considered  en- 
tirely reliable  and  worthy  of  all  confidence  by 
grandfather  and  his  family.  It  was  grandfather's 
custom  as  often,  perhaps,  as  once  a  week,  to  visit 
this  farm  and  give  Richard  such  directions  as  were 
necessary,  and  to  furnish  such  other  help  as  was 
needed  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  farm  profita- 
bly. One  Monday  morning,  grandfather,  arriving* 
at  the  Choosetown  farm,  looked  around  over  the 


MY  TEACHERS.  69 

various  fields,  saw  that  they  were  in  good  condi- 
tion, the  fences  all  in  order,  the  cattle  and  the  horse 
in  their  proper  pasture  lot,  and  crops  all  flourish- 
ing, but  no  Richard  was  to  be  seen  anywhere  on 
the  property.  Riding  up  to  the  cabin  prepared 
for  Richard's  comfort,  he  heard,  inside,  Richard's 
voice,  apparently  engaged  in  devotion.  Alight- 
ing from  his  horse,  he  opened  the  door  and  found 
Richard  reading  his  Bible.  He  looked  up  with 
some  amazement,  waiting  for  the  master  to  ad- 
dress him.  "  Well,  Richard,  how  are  things  get- 
ting along  here?"  "All  right,  massa,  all  right; 
t'ank  de  Lord!"  "Are  you  well,  Richard?" 
"Yes,  massa,  all  right,  all  right;  bress  de  Lord!'1 
"Well,  how  are  your  oxen,  are  they  doing  well?" 
"All  right,  massa;  t'ank  de  Lord !  "  "Have  you 
been  out  at  work  this  morning?"  "No  sah,  no 
sah;  can't  work  Sabba'  day."  "Why,  Richard, 
it  is  not  Sabbath;  it  is  Monday."  "Monday, 
massa!  Monday!  why  I  worked  all  day  Sabba' 
day!  Can't  work  to-day,  massa;  can't  cheat  de 
Lord  out  ob  one  day.  Please,  massa,  worked  all 
day  yes'aday;  can't  cheat  de  Lord,  massa." 
"Well,  Richard,  you  need  not  work  to-day.  Serve 
the  Lord  as  much  as  you  feel  you  ought.  I  will 
come  up  again  to-morrow  and  see  you."  This 
circumstance  may,  perhaps,  show  the  relation 
which  existed  in  New  England  between  the  slaves 
and  their  masters  in  the  time  of  New  England 
slavery. 


/O  REMINISCENCES. 

MY  FATHER  AS  MY  TEACHER. 

I  have  related  elsewhere  father's  interest  in  my 
mechanical  training  with  Mr.  Colburn,  and  his 
furnishing  me  with  a  set  of  drawing  instruments, 
and  his  requiring  me  to  copy  certain  engravings 
of  machinery.  And  I  may  continue  here  by  ex- 
plaining how  he  excited  an  interest  in  drawing  by 
his  presenting  various  problems  in  geometry,  in- 
volving accurate  drawings  of  the  figures,  also  in 
conic  sections,  also  in  freehand-drawing,  in  ar- 
ranging a  set  of  drawings,  illustrating  every  form 
of  leaf,  of  flower  and  of  fruit.  Now,  these  my 
early  attempts  at  drawing  were,  by  my  father's 
management,  rather  as  appealing  to  my  feeling  of 
good-will,  pride  and  ambition  than  as  require- 
ments ;  in  truth,  my  father  never  required  anything 
of  me ;  I  do  not  remember  that  he  ever  gave  me  a 
word  of  censure  or  rebuke. 

When  my  brother  and  I  were  called  to  Boston, 
and  came  under  his  immediate  continuous  control, 
he  spared  no  means  or  opportunity  to  interest  us 
in  practical  science  in  all  its  workings.  Our  work 
in  the  apparatus  manufactory  seems  to  me  now 
to  have  been  directed  more  to  our  instruction  than 
to  the  profit  derived  from  our  labor,  and  yet  I 
was  very  proud  when  I  heard  father  tell  a  visitor 
that  Alfred  was  worth  as  much  to  him  in  the  shop 
as  any  hand  he  employed,  although  I  was  then 
only  fourteen  years  of  age.  Not  infrequently  did 
he  engage  in  excursions  with  the  children  of  this 


MY  TEACHERS.  /I 

or  that  public  school,  for  the  collection  of  speci- 
mens of  various  rocks  found  in  the  suburbs  of 
Boston,  either  as  bowlders,  or  in  situ.  Thus,  I 
became  at  a  very  early  period  familiar  with  the 
geology  of  the  neighborhood,  from  close  and  con- 
tinued observation  under  my  father's  direction. 
By  exchanges,  we  obtained  large  quantities  of  val- 
uable specimens  of  ores,  crystals,  geodes  and  other 
beautiful  and  valuable  minerals,  from  all  parts  of 
the  world.  A  general  national  exchange  of  min- 
erals and  other  valuable  articles  was  an  original 
and  favorite  idea  of  my  father.  His  correspond- 
ence for  this  purpose  was  immense.  A  part  of 
this  correspondence  was  in  the  form  of  circulars, 
which  I  folded  and  directed,  and  of  course  read 
and  studied.  It  was  by  these  means  that  I  early 
acquired  a  ready  power  of  discrimination  of  nearly 
all  possible  minerals  at  sight,  aiding  myself  now 
and  then  by  blowpipe  analysis.  Father,  during 
my  stay  in  Boston,  occupied  the  Columbian  Hall, 
opening  upon  School  and  Tremont  Streets.  Here 
his  large  collection  of  boxes  was  stored,  and  their 
contents  examined  and  selected  for  his  own  cabinet, 
and  other  specimens,  broken  and  labeled,  were  pre- 
pared for  sending  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  In 
another  place,  I  have  related  how  father  accom- 
plished the  first  geological  survey  made  in  the 
United  States. 

Besides  the  excursions  with  children,  before 
spoken  of,  father  made  excursions  with  my  brother 
and  myself  to  more  remote  points,  for  instance  to 


72  REMINISCENCES. 

Nahant,  Dorchester  Heights,  to  Charleston,  gov- 
ernment shipyards,  Cambridge  University,  and 
various  other  places  of  interest,  all  of  which  were 
designed  to  enlarge  our  field  of  general  informa- 
tion, and  extend  our  course  of  reading,  and  train 
our  powers  of  observation — designed,  as  I  now 
see,  to  train  and  discipline  our  faculties  in  every 
conceivable  direction. 

On  Sabbath,  we  were  accustomed  to  read  religi- 
ous books,  for  instance,  Dwight's  Theology,  (father 
was  a  great  admirer  of  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight)  and 
we  were  taken  to  listen  to  the  most  celebrated 
divines  of  Boston,  among  whom  were  Dr.  Chan- 
ning,  John  Pierrepont,  and  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher. 
In  all  of  these  walks,  excursions,  readings  and 
listenings,  we  were  incited  to  prepare  ourselves  to 
report  at  a  favorable  opportunity,  on  our  views, 
and  as  to  what  our  opinions  were,  after  witnessing 
all  these  different  exhibitions  of  natural  scenery, 
human  ingenuity  and  ability.  Thus,  without 
realizing  father's  design,  we  were  trained  to  be- 
come intelligently  familiar  with  the  leading  men 
of  the  times,  whether  in  the  pulpit  or  on  the 
rostrum.  I  was  once  taken  by  my  father  through 
the  Quincy  Market,  then  the  most  beautiful  mar- 
ket-house in  the  world.  Being  early  in  the  season, 
we  came  to  a  fruit-stand,  on  which  were  displayed 
a  number  of  pears.  Father  handed  my  brother  a 
pear,  gave  me  one,  and  took  one  himself,  which 
he  immediately  bit,  asking  the  fruit-vender  the 
price.  "Fifty  cents  apiece,  sir,"  said  the  man. 


MY  TEACHERS.  73 

"Well,"  said  father,  "  I  guess  one  of  these  will 
answer,  and  I  will  get  some  other  kind  of  fruit  for 
the  boys."  So  father  paid  for  the  pear,  and  went 
to  another  stand,  inquiring  the  price  before  pur- 
chasing. He  then  took  occasion  to  tell  us  many 
anecdotes  about  "  Billy  Gray,"  one  of  which  was 
on  an  occasion  after  he  had  amassed  a  fortune. 
Being  in  market  one  day  getting  his  supplies,  a 
young  fellow  came  along  and  got  his  supplies, 
filled  his  basket,  and  inquired  of  the  market-man 
if  he  knew  of  any  boy  that  would  take  the  basket 
home  for  him.  Billy  Gray  standing  near,  and  not 
being  known  to  the  young  man,  offered  to  take 
the  basket  for  him,  telling  him  he  should  charge 
him  a  dime.  This  was  readily  agreed  to.  Billy 
Gray  started  off  with  the  baskets,  finding  it  was 
on  his  way  to  his  own  palatial  residence.  The 
young  man  being  anxious  to  know  who  the  old 
man  was  who  was  carrying  the  two  baskets,  was 
told  by  the  market-man  that  it  was  Billy  Gray, 
one  of  the  wealthiest  men  of  Boston.  Now,  it 
so  happened  that  the  father  of  this  young  man 
was  in  Billy  Gray's  employ,  the  young  man  him- 
self having  been  absent  at  college.  Feeling  char- 
grined  at  the  result  of  his  silliness  in  being  ashamed 
to  be  seen  carrying  a  market-basket  through  the 
streets  of  Boston,  he  speedily  overtook  Billy  Gray, 
and  asked  that  his  basket  should  be  returned,  but 
Mr.  Gray  refused  to  give  it  up,  inquiring  who  the 
young  man  was  as  if  he  did  not  know  already,  and 
then  informed  him  that  he  had  been  accustomed 


74  REMINISCENCES. 

in  his  early  life  to  do  just  that  kind  of  thing  for 
his  regular  business,  but  he  had  not  got  too  old 
nor  too  rich  to  carry  a  basket  for  himself  or  his 
neighbors  if  he  got  his  pay  for  it. 

My  father  was  a  very  interesting  conversation- 
alist, and  wherever  he  was,  in  my  partial  view,  he 
was  the  leading  thinker  and  talker.  His  office  on 
the  Corner  of  School  and  Washington  Streets, 
was  the  frequent  resort  of  the  best  men  of  Boston, 
if  I  may  except  the  politicians.  Such  men  as 
Channing  and  Pierrepont,  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  the 
Mayor  of  the  city;  H.  V.  R.  Smith,  General  But- 
ler, Sr. ,  and  all  the  leading  educators  and  writers 
of  Boston,  I  became  acquainted  with  in  their 
visits  and  conversations,  which  were  chiefly  upon 
educational  topics,  not  infrequently  taking  a  much 
wider  range.  Our  week-day  reading  consisted 
mostly  of  such  volumes  as  Goldsmith's  "Animated 
Nature,"  Bigelow's  " Technology, "  and  other  im- 
portant works  on  practical  science.  The  Boston 
Museum  was  a  favorite  place  of  resort,  my  father 
holding  a  free  family  ticket.  He  kindly  went  with 
us,  directing  our  attention  chiefly  to  the  natural 
curiosities  that  had  been  collected  from  Europe, 
Asia  and  Africa  in  the  lines  of  zoology,  mineral- 
ogy and  geology.  One  of  these  I  remember  to 
have  seen  with  him — whether  foreign  or  domestic, 
I  am  unable  to  say — was  a  flea  chained  up  by  one 
leg  to  a  pin  driven  into  the  top  of  a  table.  This 
was  an  active  specimen.  Father  raised  the  in- 
quiry, "If  a  flea  can  jump  eighteen  inches  at  one 


MY  TEACHERS.  75 

spring,  how  far  ought  an  elephant  to  jump,  in  pro- 
portion to  his  weight  and  size,  at  one  leap?" 

The  first  rattlesnake  I  ever  saw  was  kept  in  a 
box,  and  was  visible  through  a  wire  grating.  We 
were  permitted  to  run  a  stick  through  the  grating 
to  stir  up  the  rattlesnake,  and  rouse  him,  if  pos- 
sible, to  some  kind  of  attention  ;  but  we  found  it 
very  stupid,  and  apparently  so  little  disturbed  by 
our  attacks,  that  we  soon  let  him  alone,  and  went 
elsewhere  to  find  some  more  interesting  amuse- 
ment. One  day  after  we  had  been  stirring  up 
his  snakeship,  we  read  in  the  Evening-  Transcript, 
which  had  then  only  just  begun  its  career,  that  the 
keeper,  on  the  same  day,  after  we  left,  had  been 
bitten  by  this  same  rattlesnake.  Now,  the  keeper 
had  been  very  kind  and  attentive  to  us  two  boys, 
and  we  felt  an  interest  in  his  well-being.  He  told 
us  afterward,  on 'inquiring  of  him,  that,  as  he  was 
cleaning  out  the  sand  and  other  materials  from  the 
snake's  box,  with  a  rod,  there  remained  a  straw 
which  he  could  not  easily  remove  with  his 
rod.  The  snake  being  in  the  remote  part  of  the 
box,  he  put  his  thumb  and  finger  under  the  grat- 
ing to  take  hold  of  the  straw,  but  no  sgoner  was 
his  thumb  within  reach  of  the  snake,  than  he 
he  struck  instantly  his  fangs  into  the  flesh.  With 
some  little  difficulty  the  keeper  withdrew  his 
thumb.  He  passed  to  the  table  on  which  lay  a 
hatchet,  and  as  quickly  as  possible,  cut  his  thumb 
off  near  the  inner  joint.  The  physician  was  at 
once  called ;  such  applications  as  were  thought  to 


?  REMINISCENCES. 

be  effectual,  were  made.  His  hand  and  arm  im- 
mediately swelled  to  an  enormous  size,  became 
the  color  of  the  rattlesnake's  skin,  and  all  hope  was 
abandoned  of  saving  the  man's  life.  He  was,  how- 
ever, saved,  barely  escaped,  and,  as  in  every  such 
case,  the  annual  return  of  that  day  brought  with 
it  the  same  symptoms,  but  each  successive  year 
with  diminished,  virulence. 

Speaking  of  the  Transcript,  it  was  customary 
with  us  at  our  boarding-place,  Mr.  Pelton's,  in  the 
old  Province  House  Court,  to  read  the  evening 
paper,  or  to  have  it  read,  every  evening  after  sup- 
per. One  of  the  young  lady  boarders,  taking  up 
the  Transcript  one  evening,  commenced  reading 
for  the  benefit  of  the  company.  As  she  pro- 
ceeded, she  read  something  like  this:  "At  the 
dedication  of  the  Masonic  Temple  yesterday,  one 
of  our  solid  men  was  noticed  as  a  prominent  fig- 
ure standing  against  one  of  the  columns  in  the 
midst  of  the  vast  assemblage.  His  splendid  phys- 
ique and  lordly  bearing,  no  doubt  attracted  the 
general  attention  of  the  audience.  While  ap- 
parently giving  his  attention  to  the  proceedings 
of  the  dedication,  it  was  noticed  that  he  was 
seized  with  a  sudden  tremor;  his  rubicund  coun- 
tenance was  blanched — his  whole  figure  trembled 
with  alarm.  He  continued  feeling  in  every  pocket 
about  his  person;  it  was  evident  some  loss 
had  befallen  him.  While  this  was  going  on,  a 
laboring  man  was  seen  advancing  toward  him 
through  the  crowd.  As  he  reached  him,  he 


MY  TEACHERS.  77 

handed  a  pocketbook  rounded  out  with  the  con- 
tents, as  it  was  supposed,  of  large  bills  of  money. 
It  was  taken  with  eagerness,  and  the  poor  but  hon- 
est man  was  rewarded  with  twenty-five  dollars,  no 
cents. "  As  the  young  lady  read  on,  no  doubt  most 
of  her  audience  were  inquiring  within  themselves 
what  that  " twenty-five  dollars,  no  cents"  meant. 
My  father,  as  soon  as  the  young  lady  had  left  the 
room,  requested  me  to  take  up  the  paper  and 
read  that  incident  reported  to  have  occurred  at 
the  dedication  of  the  Masonic  Temple.  As  I 
found  it  punctuated  it  read  thus:  "The  poor  but 
honest  man  was  rewarded  with  twenty  five — dol- 
lars? No!! — cents!" 

Father  was  accustomed  to  relate  his  experiences 
during  the  visitations  he  made  to  the  public 
schools.  He  made  frequent  use  of  a  system  of 
object  lessons  of  his  own  invention  and  arrange- 
ment, interesting  the  children  in  such  a  way  as 
to  send  them  out  into  the  fields  and  quarries  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Boston. 

One  of  his  object-lessons,  as  he  reported,  ran 
thus:  "  What  is  this  I  have  in  my  hand,  boys.?" 
"Coffee,  sir."  "What  use  does  your  mother 
make  of  it?"  "Makes  'tay,'  sir."  Again,  in  an 
infant  school,  the  teacher  was  engaged  in  teaching 
spelling;  father  asked  to  be  permitted  to  hold  the 
attention  of  the  class  for  a  moment.  "Certainly," 
said  the  teacher.  "Well,  my  boy,  s-t-a-i-r-s,  what 
does  that  spell?"  "Don'tknow."  "  Don't know?" 
why  what  do  you  go  up  on  when  you  go  to  bed?" 


78  REMINISCENCES. 

One  little  boy,  brighter  than  the  rest,  sang  out, 
"A  ladder,  sir!"  "Very  well,  s-t-a-i-r-s  don't 
spell  ladder.  I  want  to  know  if  the  rest  can  tell 
what  it  spells."  Nobody  could  tell.  Well, 
now,  what  is  it  that  you  go  up  to  your  cham- 
ber on?"  "Don't  go  up  to  no  chamber;  we 
sleep  down  cellar."  "Well,  what  do  you  go 
down  cellar  on  ?  "  "  Go  down  on  the  steps,  sir." 
Father,  at  .last,  had  to  tell  the  children ;  he  could 
not  draw  it  out  of  them  by  any  of  his  devices. 
From  the'se  lines  of  procedure,  in  every  variety 
it  may  well  be  inferred  that  my  early  training  was 
valuable  as  a  preparation  for  the  work  Providence 
designed  for  me.  In  all  his  educational  labors, 
whether  written  or  spoken,  father  was  at  least 
fifty  years  ahead  of  his  times.  Even  now,  I  ap- 
prehend that,  in  the  majority  of  the  most  wealthy 
and  aristocratic  institutions,  his  educational  meas- 
ures and  plans  would  be  considered  quite  vision- 
ary and  fanatical ;  as  iconoclastic  and  impracticable. 
In  fact,  after  meeting  with  the  National  Association 
of  Educators  in  New  York  City,  in  May,  1837,  I  re~ 
member  hearing  him  say,  with  disgust,  that  he 
could  find  no  sympathy  or  place  of  common 
standing  with  the  leading  educators  in  that  associ- 
ation, of  which  he  was  one  of  the  original  found- 
ers. All  measures  that  they  proposed — that  they 
discussed — he  considered  as,  in  a  large  measure, 
useless,  tending  to  stupefy  the  mind  rather  than 
excite  the  ambition  of  the  student,  and  any  and 
everything  he  proposed  was  considered  by  the 


MY  TEACHERS.  79 

worthy  gentlemen  who  constituted  that  associa- 
tion as  utterly  invalid  and  futile  and  visionary. 

The  world  moves,  nevertheless,  even  though 
the  only  places  through  which  the  turbid  stream 
of  the  dark  ages  still  flows  are  the  most  highly  en- 
dowed and  the  most  aristocratic  of  the  -colleges. 
It  may  be  charged,  as  it  has  often  been,  that  I 
am  hostile  to  colleges  and  to  college  men.  Not  in. 
the  least.  As  was  my  father  before,  I  am  bitterly 
opposed  to  the  evil  practices,  the  antiquated 
usages,  the  repressive  influences  of  colleges,  as 
many  of  them  are  yet  conducted.  I  have  never 
attacked  a  college  or  officer  of  any  college ;  I  have 
done  whatever  seemed  to  me  to  be  desirable  and 
proper  on'  all  occasions,  by  writing,  by  speaking 
and  by  my  own  course  in  building  an  institution 
that  should  utilize  all  that  is  good  in  colleges  and 
reject  all  that  is  acknowledged  to  be  bad. 

While  I  fight  the  iniquities  of  a  system  with  no 
hostile  feeling  toward  any  man,  I  have  often  been 
made  the  target  of  most  bitter  personal  attack 
and  denunciation.  I  sent  word  to  one  worthy 
college  president,  who  used  a  considerable  part  of 
his  time  in  Teachers'  Institutes  in  denouncing  me 
as  a  charlatan  and  a  humbug,  that  I  could  afford 
to  pay  him  a  moderate  salary  for  these  efforts  to 
crush  and  ruin  me.  Why  ?  In  every  Teachers' 
Institute  in  Ohio,  and  several  other  States,  the 
most  active  workers  in  attendance  are  my  pupils. 
They  take  up  these  statements  made  by  such 
men,  and  either  in  private  or  before  the  Institute, 


80  REMINISCENCES. 

show  their  falsity,  and  thus  expose  the  bigotry 
and  bitterness  of  those  who  make  them.  The  re 
suit  is  always  favorable  to  this  institution,  and  the 
reverend  speaker  is  thus  the  means  of  removing 
prejudices  and  sending  me  pupils  who  otherwise 
would  never  have  come. 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  time  that  I  have  come 
honestly  by  my  opinions  and  practices  ;  my  doings 
and  daring  in  grappling  with  the  grand  fetich 
of  this  age.  I  am  proud  of  my  father's  memory, 
as  an  iconoclast,  a  humanitarian,  a  Christian,  and 
more  especially,  thankful  that  I  had  the  continued 
teaching  and  example  of  such  a  man. 

On  *  another  page  I  have  given  my  father's 
management  of  his  boy,  in  part.  I  shall  now 
try  to  describe  the  training  he  gave  me  under 
Mr.  Keys,  a  mechanic  he  had  found  in  one  of  his 
lecturing  tours  at  West  Boylston,  Mass.,  in  1829 
or  1830.  Mr.  Keys  was  a  foreman  in  Flagg's 
machine  shop  at  that  place,  and,  like  many  of  the 
Yankee  employes,  was  well  read,  intelligent  and 
ingenious.  He  was  much  interested  in  father's 
lectures  on  chemistry,  astronomy  and  natural 
philosophy,  and  always  remained  after  the  lecture 
to  inquire  further,  and  to  ask  for  the  titles  of  the 
best  books  treating  on  these  subjects. 

Father  became  much  interested  in  him,  es- 
pecially as  Mr.  Flagg,  his  employer,  explained  an 
important  attachment  that  Keys  had  invented  for 
power  looms.  It  was  this:  before  this  Keys'  im- 
provement was  applied,  a  girl  was  required  to  watch 


MY  TEACHERS.  8 1 

each  loom  in  order  to  stop  the  loom  and  tie  a  thread 
whenever  one  was  broken.  As  one  neglect  to  do 
this  would  impair  the  value  of  the  entire  piece, 
the  mill-owner  was  obliged  to  put  a  heavy  money 
penalty  upon  the  loom-girl  who  failed  to  take  up 
and  connect  the  ends  of  a  broken  thread.  The 
strain  on  the  girls  was  severe,  and  not  infrequently 
brought  on  brain  fever,  or  some  other  serious 
malady.  Mr.  Keys'  kindness  of  heart  and  ingenu- 
ity were  aroused  to  mitigate  these  evils — loss  on 
the  mill-owner  and  penalty  on  the  girls. 

His  contrivance  was  very  simple.  He  placed 
a  cylinder,  rotating  by  its  connections  directly 
under  the  cloth  where  the  filling  was  being  thrown 
by  the  shuttle.  The  cylinder  was  as  long  as  the 
cloth  was  wide.  Narrow  creases  were  made  about 
a  third  of  an  inch  apart,  and  extending  the  whole 
length  of  the  cylinder.  A  stiff  steel  wire,  having 
a  loop  at  the  top,  was  so  hung  on  each  thread  "of 
the  warp  that  when  a  thread  broke  the  wire  would 
drop  upon  the  revolving  cylinder  and  into  one  of 
the  creases.  This  threw  the  loom  out  of  gear  and 
stopped  it,  thus  automatically  apprising  the  girl 
in  charge  of  the  fact  of  a  broken  thread,  and  stop- 
ping the  loom  till  she  could  take  up  the  thread 
and  make  all  right  again. 

A  girl  could  more  safely  attend  to  three  looms 
with  Keys*  attachment  than  to  one  without  it, 
and  with  no  s'pecial  tax  upon  her  attention.  Mr. 
Keys  took  out  no  patent  for  this  most  valuable 
improvement,  though  his  employer  advised  him 
6 


82  REMINISCENCES. 

to  do  so.  Mr.  Flagg  was  a  manufacturer  of  power 
looms.  Whether  the  improvement  is  still  in  use, 
or  has  ever  been  superseded,  I  am  unable  to  say. 

When  it  was  explained  to  me  by  my  father, 
with  devices  of  other  men  in  machinery  to  save 
time  and  labor  and  mental  strain,  it  not  only  ex- 
cited my  interest  in  labor-saving  machinery  and 
mechanism  generally,  which  was  never  abated, 
but  a  special  respect  for  Mr.  Keys,  my  teacher 
in  practical  mechanics. 

In  starting  an  apparatus  manufactory  in  Boston, 
my  father  selected  Mr.  Keys  as  the  man  to  take 
charge  of  it.  A  number  of -other  mechanics  were 
employed;  for  there  was  no  trade  nor  art, 
scarcely,  that  was  not  brought  into  requisition  in 
the  construction  of  scientific  apparatus  as  devised 
by  my  father.  Mr.  Keys  was  the  genius  of  the 
manufactory;  my  father  found  his  suggestions 
valuable  in  devising  and  constructing  orreries,  tel- 
lurians, globes,  electric  machines  and  electric  bat- 
teries, air-pumps  and  their  attendant  receivers, 
stopcocks  and  whatnots.  All  of  these  articles,  such 
as  were  being  used  in  Harvard,  Yale  and  other  col- 
leges, had  been  previously  imported  from  Europe. 
For  example :  Father  took  me  over  to  Harvard 
one  day,  and  showed  me  an  orrery  which,  he 
said,  was  seldom  or  never  used,  that  cost  in  Paris 
$5,000.  Said  he:  "  Alfred,  I  shall  make  an  orrery 
that  will  be  used,  and  will  answer  every  purpose 
that  this  does,  for  $10." 

And  this  was  about  a  fair  example  of  the  revo- 


MY  TEACHERS.  83 

lution  father's  apparatus  wrought  for  the  advan- 
tage of  colleges,  but  more  for  public  and  private 
schools.  All  colleges  are  now  supplied  with  the 
Holbrook  apparatus,  though  the  manufacturers  in 
Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Chicago  do 
not  to  any  extent  recognize  the  name. 

Mr.  Keys,  I  thought,  took  a  great  interest  in 
training  me  in  all  mechanical  contrivances,  in  the 
use  of  all  kinds  of  tools  and  machines.  The  man- 
ufacture of  apparatus  involved  the  most  accurate 
and  finished  kinds  of  work  in  wood,  in  metal,  in 
paper  and  cloth,  in  paints,  varnishes,  lacquers,  and 
every  other  conceivable  material  and  appliance. 
We  had  a  forge  and  anvil  in  our  shop,  several  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  lathes,  a  full  set  of  cabinet-maker's 
tools,  an  outfit  for  a  tinner,  and  a  clock-maker; 
besides,  much  of  the  work  was  carried  out  of 
the  building  to  every  variety  of  mechanic  and 
artisan.  Engravers,  water-color  painters,  marblers 
and  molders  were  brought  into  requisition;  in 
fact,  there  was  scarcely  any  kind  or  variety  of 
mechanical  or  art  work  which  I  did  not  become 
more  or  less  familiar  with,  and,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  an  expert  operative  in  it,  partly  because  I 
enjoyed  the  work,  but  more  because  father  in- 
tended that  I  should  continue  in  it  for  my  life 
business.  Doubtless  Mr.  Keys  and  father  held 
many  a  conversation  as  to  what  was  best  for  me 
to  engage  in  next  and  next,  and  so  on.  One 
thing  more  I  learned  from  my  father's  connection 
with  Mr.  Keys. 


84  REMINISCENCES. 

After  he  left  Boston,  and  had  supplied  us  with 
large  quantities  of  apparatus,  which  he  made 
in  West  Boylston,  in  a  shop  which  he  had  fitted 
up  there,  he  died  from  typhoid  fever. 

His  administrator  brought  in  his  book  account 
against  father  of  several  thousand  dollars. 

Relying  upon  Mr.  Keys'  fidelity  and  accuracy, 
father  had  kept  no  regular  accounts  that  could  be 
authenticated  in  court.  The  receipts  for  money 
paid  had  always  been  sent  him,  but  they  were 
thrown  carelessly,  with  other  loose  papers,  into  a 
,drawer,  and  some  had  been  destroyed.  Several 
payments  father  remembered,  which  were  not  on 
Keys'  books,  and  for  which  the  receipts  could  not 
be  found.  The  administrator  insisted  on  the  re- 
payment of  all  charges  for  which  no  vouchers 
could  be  found,  though  several  receipts  were 
shown  for  payments  not  credited  on  Keys'  books. 
This  lesson  has  been  of  much  value  to  me  in  in- 
sisting that  my  regular  employes  keep  their  own 
accounts,  and  whether  they  do  or  not,  that  I  have 
vouchers  for  all  payments  made  them. 


CHAPTER  V. 


STAMFORD. 

WHILE  living  in  Stamford,  Connecticut,  1832-3, 
I  was  occasionally  amused  by  the  performances  of 
a  queer  fellow,  who,  it  was  said,  had  been  disap- 
pointed in  love.  He  was  a  great  tobacco-chewer, 
and  perhaps  that  had  something  to  do  with  the 
addled  condition  of  his  brain.  He  was  never  seen 
to  walk  through  the  streets,  but  when  he  came  to 
the  town  his  passage  was  made  by  running  a  few 
rods  at  a  time  and  stopping  to  take  breath.  He 
was  often  the  butt  of  ridicule  for  the  boys,  and 
sometimes,  from  his  marked  devotional  feeling  in 
church,  excited  the  attention  and  roused  the  spirit 
of  merriment  of  those  who  were  not  seriously 
engaged  in  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary.  He 
generally  sat  in  the  gallery  of  the  church.  It 
happened  one  Sabbath,  I  sat  in  the  same  vicinity, 
and  was  disturbed  by  the  giggling  and  whispering 
of  two  boys  in  the  front  seats,  just  below  us.  The 
personage  previously  mentioned  doubtless  felt 
that  his  devotions  were  interfered  with  by  these 
boys.  My  attention  was  turned  from  the  boys  to 
the  manifest  anger  of  this  devout  worshiper,  as  he 
(85) 


86  REMINISCENCES. 

endeavored  several  times  to  turn  away  his  eyes 
from  the  boys  to  the  preacher  during  the  long 
prayer.  He  at  length  seemed  to  yield  to  the  dis- 
turbance, in  so  far  as  to  give  his  undivided  attention 
to  the  boys,  quite  abandoning  his  devotions.  Had 
I  been  more  strictly  devout  myself,  perhaps  I 
should  not  have  witnessed  his  performance.  As 
it  was,  however,  I  was  watching  the  indignation 
gathering  in  his  eyes.  His  cheeks  swelled  with 
wrath  and  tobacco.  When  he  could  hold  neither 
any  longer,  a  flood  of  indignation  and  tobacco- 
juice  burst  forth  into  the  faces  of  the  disturbers  of 
the  peace.  This  irregular  proceeding  attracted 
the  attention  of  all  within  the  range  of  vision,  and 
a  smile  of  approval  went  in  waves  over  their 
countenances.  In  relating  this  to  the  minister,  a 
few  days  afterward,  he  said  in  reply :  ' '  The  boys 
got  just  what  they  deserved,  and  I  hope  for  once 
they  were  calmed  into  a  reverent  quiet  and  a 
proper  respect  for  the  feeling  of  others  while 
engaged  in  Sabbath  exercises.  My  eyes  being 
closed,  I  was  only  conscious  of  some  unusual 
state  of  feeling  in  my  audience;"  "but,"  said 
he,  ' l  a  few  Sabbaths  ago,  while  a  brother-minis- 
ter was  offering  the  long  prayer,  my  attention  was 
distracted,  I  confess,  by  the  contortions  of  the^ 
countenance  of  this  same  young  man,  and  for 
once  I  could  not  quite  suppress  a  smile,  even  in 
the  sacred  desk,  and  during  prayer.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  a  young  man,  witty  remarkably  red 
hair,  sat  in  the  same  place  where  these  boys  sat. 


STAMFORD.  8/ 

The  peculiar  fiery  aspect  of  the  head  a  little  in 
front  and  beneath,  attracted  the  attention  of  our 
friend.  I  noticed  that  he  was  exceedingly  interested 
in  the  appearance,  and  after  various  contortions  and 
evolutions  and  other  manifestations  of  intense  in- 
terest, I  observed  that  he  placed  the  index-finger  of 
his  left  hand  on  top  of  the  red  head,  (the  possessor 
hardly  aware  of  the  use  being  made  of  his  flaming 
locks)  and  turning  it  over  as  if  it  were  a  piece  of 
iron  in  the  forge,  occasionally  taking  it  away,  and 
placing  it  on  the  back  of  the  seat,  hammered  at  it 
with  his  other  fist.  After  he  had  reduced  it  toward 
the  proper  shape,  and  it  became  too  much  chilled, 
it  was  replaced  for  another  heating  in  the  glowing 
source  of  heat,  and  then  subjected  to  further  ma- 
nipulation. I  believe  this  is  the  only  time  that  I 
ever  lost  possession  of  myself,  and  laughed  in 
church." 

With  regard  to  this  love-stricken  youth,  it  was 
narrated  in  Stamford  that  his  mother,  being 
anxious  to  bring  him  out,  made  arrangements 
with  her  brother,  a  New  York  merchant,  to  have 
John  visit  the  city,  and  spend  a  few  weeks  in 
wearing  off  his  rusticity.  Before  the  son  took  his 
departure,  it  is  said,  the  mother  carefully  enjoined 
upon  him,  "  John,  you  know  you  are  not  as  smart 
as  some  people,  especially,  as  some  of  your 
cousins  in  the  city;  you  must  do  the  best  you  can, 
and  unless  you  can  answer  correctly  and  at  once, 
it  will  be  best  for  you  not  to  make  any  answer  at 
all.  Now,  remember,  John,  remember  what  I 


88  REMINISCENCES. 

tell  you ;  if  you  can't  answer  correctly  and  at  once, 
make  no  reply  whatever/'  So  John  found  him- 
self in  the  city,  a  guest  in  his  uncle's  family,  and 
no  doubt  he  was  treated  very  hospitably.  But, 
on  the  first  Sabbath,  when  the  family  was  as- 
sembled at  dinner,  and  some  of  the  clerks  with 
them,  one  of  them  said  to  John,  ' '  Be  so  kind  as  to 
pass  the  biscuits. "  John  passed  the  biscuits,  but 
made  no  reply.  The  manner  in  which  it  was  done 
rather  interested  the  clerk,  and  he  addressed 
several  questions  to  the  country  boy,  to  which, 
John,  following  the  injunctions  of  his  good  mother, 
made  no  reply.  At  length  the  clerk,  turning  to 
the  one  who  sat  by  him,  on  the  other  side,  whis- 
pered, loud  enough  for  John  to  hear,  "What  is  the 
matter  with  this  fellow;  he  is  a  fool,  isn't  he?" 
John,  hearing  the  allegation,  started  up  and  ran 
away  from  the  table,  saying,  ' '  There,  mother,  they 
have  found  it  out,  and  I  haven't  said  a  word ;  but 
they  have  found  it  out."  With  this,  he  left  the 
room,  and  all  at  the  table  in  a  roar. 

Living  in  Stamford,  was  a  remarkably  handsome 

lawyer  by  the  name  of  T .     Having  married  an 

heiress,  he  was  sent  by  her  to  Yale  College, 
to  prepare  for  his  chosen  profession,  the  law. 
But  having,  probably,  too  much  money  at  his  con- 
trol, and  not  having  his  wife  there  to  hold  him  in 
check,  he  was  engaged  with  other  students  in  mis- 
chief, time  and  again,  at  the  expense  of  the  Pro- 
fessor of  mathematics,  who,  from  his  earnestness 
to  help  the  boys  to  do  something  for  themselves, 


STAMFORD.  89 

became  very  unpopular.  Young  T.,  on  an  oc- 
casion, had  been  interrupted  in  a  clandestine  per- 
formance in  the  recitation-room  of  this  Professor. 
He  had  drawn  a  striking  caricature  upon  the  black- 
board, and  had  just  commenced  writing  the  in- 
scription underneath.  He  had  proceeded  so  far 
as  to  write  "A  demon,"  but  being  interrupted  by 
the  sound  of  the  professor's  key  placed  in  the  lock, 
he  made  a  precipitate  escape  through  a  window  of 
the  room.  He  was  called  up  before  the  dons,  in  a 
Faculty  meeting,  to  give  an  account  of  himself  for 
thus  denominating  a  worthy  Christian  gentleman. 
His  defense  was,  that  if  he  had  been  left  alone  a 
little  longer,  he  would  have  given  them  the  in- 
scription he  had  designed,  which  was  simply  "A 
demonstration"  that  he  was  making  upon  the 
board  and  writing  the  proper  inscription,  but 
being  interrupted  at  an  unfortunate  point,  he  had 
inadvertently  given  a  more  appropriate  title  to  the 
gentleman  than  he  had  intended.  He  was  ex- 
pelled, not  unwillingly  probably  to  his  wife  and  his 
ease.  All  he  ever  did  in  the  practice  of  law,  so 
far  as  I  know,  never  led  to  any  additions  to  his 
wife's  possessions.  I  heard  him  say,  however, 
that  when  "the  boys  "  were  engaged  in  card-play- 
ing in  his  rooms,  one  night,  momentarily  expect- 
ing a  call  from  one  of  the  professors  on  his  round, 
they  had  prepared  in  their  room  a  kettleful  of 
mush,  and  had  deposited  a  part  of  it  in  the  pockets 
of  an  overcoat  hanging  by  the  door.  When  the 
expected  knock  was  heard,  the  usual  cry  "Come 


gO  REMINISCENCES. 

in"  was  given,  but  the  boys  having  everything 
arranged,  were  in  a  great  flutter,  and  one  of  them 
had  apparently  deposited  some  of  the  contraband 
articles  in  the  overcoat  in  such  a  manner  as  was 
intended  to  lead  the  Professor  in  that  direction. 
The  Professor  thrust  his  hand  into  one  of  the 
pockets  of  the  overcoat,  but  withdrew  it  much 
more  rapidly  than  he  had  thrust  it  in,  his  hand 
being  badly  scalded  by  the  mush  prepared  for  that 
purpose,  but  when  the  boys  were  summoned  be- 
fore the  Faculty  to  give  an  account  of  themselves, 
and  being  questioned  by  the  President  of  the  In- 
stitution, and  no  one  being  willing  to  reply  or  to 
implicate  himself  in  this  transaction,  T.  himself, 
according  to  his  account,  arose  and  remarked  :  "  I 
am  able  to  inform  you  gentlemen,  although  I 
know  very  little  about  the  affair,  who  had  a  hand 
in  it— It  was  the  Professor  himself." 


CHAPTER  VI. 


MY  FIRST  SCHOOL. 

IN  the  fall  of  1833,  being  then  seventeen  years 
old,  and  having  come  from  West  Boylston,  Mass. , 
and  having  recovered  my  health,  I  had  not  as  yet 
engaged  in  any  business.  I  was  living  at  my 
grandfather's.  One  day,  being  occupied  in  a 
cornfield,  gathering  corn,  I  noticed  a  stranger 
coming  toward  me.  He  said:  "Your  name  is 
Alfred  Holbrook."  "Yes,  sir."  "I  understand 
you  are  a  pretty  good  scholar,  and  I  am  in  pur- 
suit of  a  teacher  for  our  village  school. "  "I  never 
taught  any,  and,  of  course,  do  not  know  whether 
I  can  teach  or  not.  Where  are  you  from,  sir?" 
"From  Monroe;  I  was  directed  to  you  as  one 
who  would  like  to  get  a  situation."  "I  have  no 
business  in  view,  sir,  and  have  never  taught.  I 
don't  know  whether  I  will  make  a  good  teacher 
or  not.  What  wages  do  you  pay?"  "We  expect 
to  pay  $12  per  month."  "You  furnish  board?" 
' '  Oh,  yes ;  our  teacher  always  boards  round  with 
us."  "Well,  sir,  I  have  not  been  examined,  and 
not  having  taught  any,  don't  know  whether  I 
shall  succeed.  How  long  do  you  wish  your 

(91) 


92  REMINISCENCES. 

school  to  continue?"  "Six  months,  if  everything 
works  well;  that  is,  if  you  give  satisfaction." 
"Well,  sir,  if  I  pass  examination  and  you  will 
give  $14  a  month,  provided  I  am  not  discharged 
before  the  time  expires,  and  $12  a  month  for  the 
time  I  really  teach  if  I  am  discharged,  I  am  will- 
ing to  make  the  attempt,"  My  condition  of  $14, 
provided  I  was  not  discharged,  seemed  to  strike 
the  gentleman  rather  pleasantly,  as  I  noticed  he 
smiled.  He  saw,  of  course,  that  he  could  dis- 
charge me  half  an  hour  before  the  time  expired 
and  pay  me  $12  a  month  if  he  chose.  My  object 
in  offering  this  condition  was,  that  I  might  put 
myself  under  the  strongest  possible  inducement 
to  work  hard  and  give  the  best  possible  satisfac- 
tion. I  had  learned  that  I  was  subject  to  tempta- 
tion, like  other  boys  of  that  age,  and  thought  it 
desirable  to  place  myself  under  such  conditions  as 
would  hold  me  to  my  business;  such  conditions  as 
would  appeal  b9th  to  my  pride  and  to  my  pocket 
also.  My  examination  by  the  town  authority 
was,  to  me,  somewhat  interesting.  After  being 
asked  to  spell  one  or  two  words,  one  of  which 
was  calico,  and  not  being  sure,  I  suggested  it  was 
spelled  differently  in  different  dictionaries.  In  my 
examination  in  geography,  I  was  asked:  "Who  is 
the  present  king  of  Spain?"  My  answer  was: 
"The  present  king  of  Spain  is  a  woman,  sir,  if  I 
remember  rightly/'  He  smiled  and  rejoined: 
"That  is  a  good  one.  You  know  more  about  it 
than  I  do."  This  closed  my  examination. 


MY  FIRST  SCHOOL.  93 

At  the  appointed  time  I  found  myself  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Robinson,  the  gentleman  with  whom 
I  had  made  the  contract,  having  himself  four  chil- 
dren for  the  school.  He  said  he  would,  if  it  were 
agreeable  to  me,  prefer  to  have  me  board  out  the 
time  with  him,  before  I  passed  to  other  families 
in  the  district.  He  remarked  that  it  would  be 
proper  for  me  calculate  how  long  it  would  be 
necessary  to  board  for  each  child  attending 
school.  When  the  calculation  was  made,  I  found 
that  I  would  continue  with  this  very  worthy  family 
for  three  weeks,  and  I  found  a  very  pleasant  in- 
troduction to  the  society  of  Monroe  through  them 
and  their  special  friends. 

On  opening  my  school  according  to  contract 
on  Monday,  at  9  A.  M.,  I  found  about  twenty-five 
pupils  in  attendance,  among  whom  was  a  bright, 
smart  colored  boy,  about  nineteen  years  of  age. 
I  requested  the  pupils  to  take  their  seats  as  they 
had  been  accustomed  to.  The  seats  were  arranged 
somewhat  in  this  manner:  the  benches  extended 
entirely  around  the  house;  plain,  continuous 
boards  were  ranged  in  front  upon  standards,  so  as 
to  form  a  desk  in  common  for  about  five  pupils 
each.  The  colored  boy,  "Lew,"  occupied  the 
middle  seat,  or  the  desk  in  front  of  the  teacher's 
desk.  As  I  proceeded  with  my  work,  and  my 
first  class  was  a  reading  class,  they  occupying  the 
floor  in  a  standing  position,  I  noticed  that  the 
pupils  who  were  not  engaged  in  this  class  were 
preoccupied  by  some  mischief,  which  led  them  to 


94  REMINISCENCES. 

titter  and  whisper,  and  to  fall  into  other  forms  of 
disturbance.  Not  perceiving  the  cause  of  this  mer- 
riment, I  restrained  myself  until  I  should  ascertain 
why  or  how  it  happened.  I  soon  discovered,  from 
the  direction  of  the  children's  glances,  that  the 
darkey,  Lew,  was  the  center  of  the  mischief.  He 
was  a  great  mimic,  and  was  taking  off  my  per- 
formances to  the  amusement  of  the  younger  chil- 
dren. Immediately  I  addressed  myself  to  Lew, 
in  words  something  like  these:  "I  discover  that 
you  are  not  inclined  to  be  very  studious,  young 
man.  I  think  you  will  make  less  trouble  and  find 
less  trouble  if  you  will  apply  yourself  more  closely 
to  the  book  you  have  before  you."  His  response 
was  a  good-natured  grin,  equivalent  to  "What 
are  you  going  to  do  about  it?  "  I  continued:  "If 
this  disturbance  is  repeated,  I  shall  be  compelled 
to  take  charge  of  you  myself."  This  was  an- 
swered by  a  grimace  of  defiance,  as  much  as  to 
say,  "Touch  me  if  you  dare!"  Now  he  was  two 
years  older  and  twenty  per  cent,  heavier  than  I 
was.  I  was  afterward  informed  that  he  had 
broken  up  several  previous  schools  by  similar  per- 
formances. The  children  generally  sided  with 
him,  and  he  was  a  very  popular  individual,  so  far 
as  they  were  concerned.  I  told  the  class  with 
which  I  was  engaged  to  take  their  seats.  Said  I : 
"Young  man,  I  want  you  to  come  out  here  to 
me,"  and  stepped  toward  him  with  no  pleasant 
expression  probably.  He  seized  the  desk  with 
both  his  hands,  as  I  grasped  his  collar  with  both 


MY  FIRST  SCHOOL.  95 

of  mine.  I  stood  upon  a  small  seat  in  front  of  the 
continuous  desk,  behind  which  he  was  seated.  I 
gave  him  a  jerk  with  whatever  of  energy  and  will- 
force  I  could  apply,  and  the  teacher,  the  darkey 
and  the  desk  came  over  into  the  middle  of  the 
floor  in  a  pile.  It  happened,  however,  that  the 
teacher  was  on  top.  -Said  I:  "Are  you  willing 
now  to  get  up  and  behave  yourself?"  Said  he, 
with  an  oath:  "  You  get  off  of  me."  I  replied:  "I 
shall  get  off  from  you  when  you  promise  to  be- 
have, and  not  before. "  Said  he:  "I'll  not  behave 
as  long  as  you  are  on  top  of  me."  I  jumped  up 
and  began  to  kick  him,  yet  holding  him  down  on 
the  floor.  I  treated  him  roughly;  and  when  he 
began  to  whimper  and  the  children  around  the 
room  were  crying  and  my  strength  was  somewhat 
exhausted,  I  remitted  my  efforts  and  again  in- 
quired: "Will  you  get  up  now  and  take  your 
seat  and  behave?"  He  replied,  whimpering:  "If 
you  will  let  me  get  up  I  will  go  home."  At  that, 
I  sat  down  upon  him  and  pounded  him,  exerting 
the  best  energies  I  had  in  the  practice  of  muscular 
Christianity.  Presently  he  begged  that  I  would  let 
him  up.  He  said  that  he  would  get  up  and  go  to 
his  seat.  Said  I :  "  Will  you  behave  and  let  these 
children  alone?"  He  said:  "I  won't  let  you 
alone. "  So  I  thought  it  necessary  to  make  another 
reformatory  application.  Inquiring  again  if  he 
would  get  up,  go  to  his  seat  and  behave,  he  blub- 
bered at  last  that  he  would.  I  let  him  up.  He 
went  to  his  seat  and  never  gave  me  any  more 


96  REMINISCENCES. 

trouble.  He  proved  one  of  the  best  pupils  I  ever 
had — a  very  good-natured  boy ;  but  he  had  been 
petted  and  spoiled  by  the  people  who  raised  him, 
and  by  the  children  whom  he  had  amused.  I  was 
told  by  the  family  who  raised  him,  with  whom  I 
afterward  boarded,^  that  it  was  really  the  best 
thing  that  ever  happened  to  Lew,  for  he  was  really 
a  good  boy,  so  far  as  they  were  concerned.  Now 
I  do  not  wish  my  young  friends,  who  may  read 
this,  to  suppose  that  I  give  this  incident  as  an  ex- 
ample of  skillful  school  management.  On  the 
contrary,  it  was  abominable;  but  it  was  the  best  I 
knew  under  the  circumstances,  at  that  time.  It 
secured  for  me  the-  respect  of  my  pupils,  and 
of  all  their  parents,  so  far  as  I  learned.  If  I  had 
the  thing  to  do  over  again  I  should  pursue  an 
entirely  different  course.  As  it  was,  however,  I 
had  no  further  difficulty  in  government. 

Having  attended  only  one  district  school  in 
my  life,  and  that  but  for  three  months,  the 
teacher  being  Dr.  Goodson,  I  was  led  to  practice 
the  extreme  of  explanation,  from  his  utter  paucity 
in  that  article,  as  he  never  gave  any  explanations 
whatever,  but  held  us  closely  to  the  text  and  let- 
ter of  the  book.  In  managing  my  classes — and, 
by  the  way,  he  never  had  any  but  reading  classes, 
each  pupil  reciting  in  other  subjects  when  called 
upon — I  assumed  that  nothing  should  be  done  or 
said  or  recited  that  was  not  fully  explained,  either 
by  the  pupil  or  by  the  teacher.  Of  course,  the 
teacher  had  nearly  all  the  explanation  to  do.  This 


MY  FIRST  SCHOOL.  97 

was  especially  true  in  arithmetic.  Alter  mana- 
ging the  most  advanced  arithmetic  class  of  about 
eight  pupils  in  this  manner  for  two  weeks,  I  found 
that  very  little  study  was  done  by  any  member  of 
the  class,  and  that  the  recitation  was  about  as  irk- 
some to  them  as  it  was  trying  and  discouraging  to 
me.  I  thought  I  was  doing  the  best  possible  by 
demanding  and  giving  explanations  of  every  step 
in  every  process.  At  the  close  of  a  recitation 
of  this  class,  occurring  on  the  third  week  of 
school,  at  12  o'clock,  while  walking  to  Mr.  Rob- 
inson's, my  boarding-place,  I  said  to  myself: 
"What  is  the  matter  with  the  arithmetic  class? 
Arithmetic  certainly  ought  to  be  made  interest- 
ing, and  the  study  exciting,  and  I  am  not  accom- 
plishing anything  but  my  own  defeat  and  the 
discouragement  of  my  pupils;  what  is  the  matter? 
Is  it  because  the  subject  is  in  itself  so  dry  and  re- 
pulsive? No ;  it  is  most  useful  and  necessary.  Is 
it,  then,  because  this  class  is  unusually  mischievous 
and  troublesome?  No;  these  children  are  just  as 
good  as  any  other  children.  The  trouble  is  not 
with  the  children.  The  difficulty,  Alfred  Hoi- 
brook,  is  with  yourself;  you  don't  know  how  to 
interest  them;  you  don't  know  how  to  teach.'* 
The  afternoon  was  passed  much  as  usual — hearing 
the  children  read  and  recite  their  geography  and 
work  at  their  penmanship ;  a  specially  gloomy 
time  was  it  all  through.  I  went  to  my  boarding- 
place  at  night  very  much  disheartened,  not  know- 
ing whether  I  ought  to  abandon  the  school  or 
7 


98  REMINISCENCES. 

what  I  ought  to  do.  I  concluded  that  something 
must  be  done.  I  was  too  much  excited  and  cha- 
grined to  eat  my  supper,  or,  indeed,  to  sleep  any 
that  night.  Though  I  had  never  expected  to 
teach,  and,  least  of  all,  expected  to  make  teaching 
my  life-work,  the  idea  of  being  defeated  in  any- 
thing I  had  undertaken  from  my  own  incapacity 
was  more  than  I  could  bear.  Some  time  in  the 
early  morning  a  revelation  came  to  me.  It  was 
this:  "You  have  been  making  a  fool  of  yourself 
— try  a  better  plan."  This  revelation  was  a  new 
inspiration,  and  I  was  just  as  confident  of  the 
proper  management  of  that  class  and  school  as  I 
was  after  it  was  accomplished.  I  went  to  my 
school  that  morning  a  new  creature.  When  the 
arithmetic  class  was  called  at  half-past  eleven,  I 
said  to  the  class:  "  Instead  of  reciting  the  lesson 
I  assigned  for  the  day,  we  will  look  at  the  next 
lesson,  and  see  what  is  to  be  done."  The  subject- 
matter  was  the  rule  for  the  Division  of  Denomi- 
nate Numbers.  I  commenced  a  PRELIMINARY  DRILL 
on  the  rule,  requesting  the  pupils  to' work  an  ex- 
ample step  by  step,  as  the  rule  directed,  calling 
upon  one  pupil  to  work  the  example  on  the  black- 
board. By  the  way,  so  far  as  I  know,  this  was 
the  first  blackboard  ever  used  in  a  public  school 
in  the  State  of  Connecticut.  I  had  made  it  my- 
self. It  will  be  remembered  this  was  in  1833. 
The  children  continued  working  the  example  step 
by  step,  as  the  rule  directed,  until  one  little 
brown-eyed  girl  looked  up  at  me  very  prettily, 


MY  FIRST  SCHOOL.  99 

and  said  :  "Mr.  Holbrook,  why  do  we  bring  down 
that  number  there?"  "Why,  Mary,  the  book 
says  so,  doesn't  it?"  She  pushed  the  inquiry  no 
farther — she  was  too  timid.  Another,  however, 
took  up  the  inquiry:  "I  don't  understand,  Mr. 
Holbrook,  why  we  multiply  and  bring  down  that 
number  there.  You  told  us  we  ought  to  under- 
stand it  ourselves,  and  not  take  what  the  book 
says,  and  I  don't  understand  it."  "Oh,  well," 
said  I,  "the  book  is  all  right,  isn't  it?  "  "I  don't 
know;  I  don't  understand  it."  "Well,"  said  I, 
"go  according  to  the  book  this  time."  One  little 
fellow,  the  son  of  the  Presbyterian  minister,  put 
his  head  around  back  of  the  one  he  was  sitting 
with,  and  said  to  the  next  one  in  a  whisper:  "I 
don't  believe  he  understands  it  himself."  I  had 
now  accomplished  my  purpose.  I  had  really 
aroused  an  interest  in  knowing  the  reason  why. 
I  had  been  forcing  reasons  down  their  intellectual 
throats  in  such  a  manner  as  to  nauseate  and  repel. 
From  that  time  onward  my  school  was  my  joy 
and  pride.  This  was  my  first  discovery  in  peda- 
gt>gics.  This  little  Mary  French,  who  started  the 
question  "why,"  was  a  very  diligent  student,  and 
had  gone  through  Woodbridge's  Geography  three 
or  four  times,  and  did  not  like  to  be  in  the 
class  which  had  only  gone  through  it  once  or 
twice,  and  wanted  to  know  if  I  would  not  hear  her 
recite  separately.  She  said :  ' '  My  ma  told  me  to 
ask  you  if  I  could  not  recite  by  myself."  I  re- 
plied :  ' '  Mary,  your  mother  does  not  control  this 


100  REMINISCENCES. 

school.  Give  her  my  compliments,  and  tell  her  I 
am  teacher  here."  Now,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  I  would  have  any  one  imitate  this  piece  of 
bad  management.  However,  Mrs.  French,  being 
a  sensible  and  good-natured  woman,  instead  of 
making  a  fuss  about  such  a  message,  took  it 
kindly,  and  when  she  met  me,  thanked  me  for  the 
course  I  had  taken. 

My  next  boarding-place  in  "boarding  'round" 
was  at  Mr.  Munson's,  a  hatter,  also  a  farmer  and 
butcher,  at  least,  so  far  as  his  own  meat  was  con- 
cerned. The  first  supper  that  I  took  there  con- 
sisted of  boiled  beef,  hot  bread  and  burnt  rye 
coffee,  all  of  which  was  rather  novel,  except  the 
beef,  which  I  think  must  have  been  an  old  cow, 
past  twenty-five  years  of  age.  I  took  a  piece  in 
my  mouth,  but  did  not  succeed  in  masticating  it, 
so  put  it  down  under  the  side  of  my  plate.  There 
were  seven  children  in  this  family,  good  children 
enough ;  I  liked  them  all ;  but  I  did  not  like  the 
idea  of  spending  all  my  hours  out  of  school  at 
the  family  kitchen  fire,  as  it  was  expected  I  would 
do.  When  I  requested  to  be  shown  to  bed,  the 
eldest  daughter  was  directed  to  show  me  to  my 
room.  Passing  up-stairs,  she  went  into  their  spare 
chamber,  a  large,  comfortable  room,  neatly  fur- 
nished, and  I  thought  I  was  going  to  have  very 
pleasant  quarters  in  my  new  abode.  It  was  a 
consideration,  as  I  expected  to  board  at  this  place 
five  weeks.  Instead  of  setting  down  the  light  in 
this  room,  she  passed  through  into  another,  say- 


M Y  FI RST  SCHOStl  ',  I O I 

ing  that  I  would  find  my  bed  i-Vthaf  Vb'ooi*  ;\*5lie. 
left  the  light  and  me  to  bvur  own 'radiant  icfiec- 
tions.  I  found  a  very  hard  bed,  with  insufficient 
clothing,  the  sheets  being  woolen  blankets,  which 
had  been  thoroughly  fulled  in  washing,  and  were 
as  hard  as  a  board;  and  the  whole,  bed  and  all, 
under  the  garret  stairs.  I  must  confess  I  was  some- 
what disgusted.  Nor  did  I  think  that  the  profes- 
sion of  teaching  was  so  utterly  menial  that  I  ought 
to  be  treated  worse  than  an  ordinary  hired  hand. 
But  I  concluded  to  make  the  best  of  it,  and  to  en- 
dure whatever  came.  I  had  enlisted  for  the  cause 
and  would  prove  no  deserter.  I  waked  happy 
the  next  morning;  felt  jolly  in  contriving  some 
new  artifice  for  my  school.  I  really  believe  I 
made  friends  of  these  children  and  their  parents: 
the  only  modification  of  my  quarters  being  that  I 
requested  another  bed-quilt  or  two. 

I  next  boarded  at  Mr.  Babbitt's.  Now  this 
was  the  most  respectable  family  in  town.  Two 
sons  were  in  business  in  New  York;  two  hand- 
some and  very  intelligent  daughters  were  at  home 
with  their  mother.  A  hired  hand  and  the  family 
servant,  with  the  mother  and  daughters,  made  up 
the  family.  As  I  was  taking  my  seat  at  the  sup- 
per table  for  the  first  time  with  these  young 
ladies,  I  found  an  atmosphere  of  culture,  refine- 
ment and  all  the  appointments  of  good  society, 
and  their  very  best  set  out  for  the  entertainment 
of  their  teacher.  In  fact,  the  poorest  of  this 
family  was  better  than  the  best  that  the  Munson 


IO2,  REMINISCENCES. 

family  ever 'furnished  4©.r  the  entertainment  of 
their  fridnds.  -  My  private  room  was  the  best  the 
house  contained,  and  was  made  comfortable  for 
me  in  every  respect  to  pursue  my  studies  as  I 
pleased.  For  instance :  when  I  retired  at  night, 
on  turning  back  the  bed -covers,  I  thought  they 
were  exceedingly  light  for  that  cold  night;  but, 
being  too  bashful  to  call  for  any  more  bed  covers, 
'I  bravely  crept  under  the  cover,  expecting  to 
freeze  before  morning.  I  fell  asleep,  and  on  wak- 
ing was  perfectly  comfortable.  I  inspected  the  cov- 
ering under  which  I  had  slept  so  delightfully,  and 
found  it  made  of  down.  I  congratulated  myself 
that  I  had  not  committed  the  blunder  of  asking 
for  more  bed-clothing  before  I  had  given  the  down 
a  trial.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  all  my 
time  in  this  house  was  not  spent  in  my  studies  in 
my  room.  The  young  ladies  were  too  attractive 
and  intelligent,  and  it  seemed  to  me,  exerted 
themselves  most  beautifully  to  entertain  the  boy- 
teacher  that  had  been  sent  to  them  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  " boarding  around."  I  regretted  the 
time  when  I  was  compelled  to  find  another  board- 
ing-place, especially  as  the  young  ladies  urged  me 
to  continue  a  few  days  longer,  saying  that  they 
hardly  thought  I  had  got  my  money's  worth  in 
such  board  as  they  provided.  By  the  way,  their 
table  was  most  lavishly  furnished. 

My  time  being  about  to  expire  there,  I  requested 
the  children  to  inquire  of  their  parents  when  it 
would  be  convenient  for  me  to  board  with  them. 


MY  FIRST  SCHOOL.  IO3 

respectively,  or  who  would  be  ready  to  receive 
me  next.  The  following  morning  there  was  an  un- 
usually bitter,  cold,  driving  snow-storm ;  but  about 
half  an  hour  after  school  opened,  we  heard  a 
stamping  and  wheezing  and  puffing  in  the  hall. 
Not  knowing  what  or  who  the  arrival  might  be,  I 
requested  one  of  the  children  to  open  the  door, 
when  my  young  friend,  Walter  Carleton,  made  his 
appearance,  nearly  stiff  with  cold,  but  sufficiently 
excited  with  the  news  he  was  about  to  impart. 
"Well,  Walter,  what  is  it?"  "My  Aunt  Maria 
says,  Mr.  Holbrook,  that  we  are  going  to  kill  the 
old  sow  next  Saturday,  and  she  would  like  to  have 
you  come  and  board  with  us  just  as  soon  after 
that  as  you  can."  "Very  well,  Walter;  tell  your 
Aunt  Maria  I  shall  be  there  next  Saturday  night, 
unless  I  have  other  orders  from  her."  I  found 
my  home  with  Aunt  Maria  and  her  worthy  sister 
a  very  pleasant  one.  My  acquaintance  with  those 
good  maiden  ladies  was  of  real  value.  They  were 
pious,  devoted  Christians,  well  read  in  all  the  lit- 
erature of  the  times.  They  seemed  to  take  a 
deep  interest  ir^  my  religious  welfare,  for  which  I 
was  not  sufficiently  thankful  at  the  time.  On  the 
second  or  third  night  of  my  boarding  with  them 
occurred  the  great  meteoric  storm  of  1833.  These 
devoted  Christian  ladies,  from  their  own  account 
of.  it  afterward,  met  what  they  supposed  to  be 
the  judgment  day  with  excitement  and  terror, 
mingled  with  reverence  and  awe.  Their  descrip- 
tion of  their  feelings,  and  of  the  phenomena  of  the 


IO4  REMINISCENCES. 

night,  were  sufficiently  interesting  and  exciting  to 
me,  who  had  lost  entirely,  in  a  continued  sleep, 
the  interest,  beauty  and  wonder  of  the  occasion. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  I  had  everything  to 
learn  from  my  first  school,  in  managing  and  teach- 
ing children.  I  had  attended  school  but  little, 
and  that  under  coercive  and  repressive  plans ;  and 
not  having  ever  thought  of  teaching  as  a  tempo- 
rary business,  much  less  as  a  life-work,  I  had  lit- 
tle idea  how  it  was  to  be  done,  and  no  disposition 
to  study  the  subject.  But  really  every  day  to  me, 
in  my  school  experience,  was  a  day  of  study,  ex- 
periments, and  of  partial  or  complete  success. 
Thus  my  first  school  was  a  series  of  continued  ex- 
citements, and  of  triumphs  over  new  and  unex- 
pected difficulties. 

It  had  never  been  my  purpose  to  be  a  teacher, 
for  I  had  concluded,  after  finding  it  impossible  to 
live  in  Boston  and  pursue  my  father's  business, 
that  my  health  would  require  open  air  employ- 
ment ;  and  thus  I  had  decided  that  my  life-work 
should  be  that  of  engineering.  Nor  did  I  abandon 
this  idea  for  many  years  afterward,  although  de- 
feated again  and  again  in  my  efforts  in  this  direc- 
tion. 

In  carrying  on  my  preparation  for  engineering, 
I  formed  a  literary  society,  including  the  more  ad- 
vanced pupils  and  other  young  people  of  the  town 
of  Monroe.  We  met  weekly  for  purposes  of  im- 
provement in  debate,  reading  and  criticising  es- 
says, in  elocutionary  readings,  and  in  the  reading 


MY  FIRST  SCHOOL.  IO5 

of  a  weekly  paper  edited  by  one  of  the  members. 
We  named  our  literary  society  "The  Monroe 
Lyceum. "  Among  the  exercises  were  several 
scientific  lectures,  delivered  by  myself,  accom- 
panied by  illustrations  on  the  blackboard,  and  with 
such  simple  apparatus  as  I  could  construct  in  that 
village.  I  was  encouraged  to  think,  from  the 
satisfaction  which  these  efforts  for  gaining  lit- 
erary power  seemed  to  give  to  all  my  audience, 
that  I  could,  if  I  so  desired,  prepare  myself  for  a 
public  lecturer,  and  for  the  organization  of  lyce- 
ums,  as  my  father  was  doing  before  me.  I  was, 
however,  more  intent  upon  pursuing  my  chosen 
life-work,  or  rather  my  preparation  for  it,  and  for 
this  reason  declined  the  offer  of  continuing  the 
school  through  the  summer  at  the  same  rate — $14 
per  month.  This  offer  was  the  more  acceptable, 
as  it  had  been  customary  for  a  lady  to  teach  the 
summer  school  at  $4  per  month. 

It  was  the  law  at  that  time  in  Connecticut  that 
in  order  that  any  district  should  draw  its  public 
money  from  the  school  fund,  the  Directors  should 
certify  to  the  Township  Treasurer  that  they  had 
visited  the  school  twice  during  the  term  for  which 
the  money  was  drawn.  My  term  of  six  months 
had  nearly  expired  and  the  Directors  had  not  yet 
made  their  appearance.  I  inquired  of  different 
members  of  the  board,  at  different  times,  when 
they  would  be  pleased  to  make  me  their  legal  and 
formal  visit.  ' '  Oh, "  they  said,  ' '  they  would  come 
in  some  time  when  they  could  get  together,  and 


IO6  REMINISCENCES. 

could  make  it  convenient."  I  waited  rather  anx- 
iously the  last  week,  expecting  them  every  day ; 
but  the  last  day  came  and  the  Directors  had  not 
yet  made  even  one  visit.  Then  I  supposed  they 
would  make  one  visit  in  the  morning  and  the  other 
in  the  afternoon,  to  comply  with  the  law.  But 
the  forenoon  passed,  and  yet  no  visitors.  The 
time  of  closing  school  for  the  term  arrived.  I 
made  my  closing  speech,  not  alluding  in  the  least 
to  the  visitors,  and  dismissed  my  school.  As  the 
first  pupils  were  passing  out  of  the  door,  the  Di- 
rectors entered,  and  inquired  very  quietly  if  school 
was  dismissed?  I  replied:  "The  school  is  dis- 
missed for  the  term."  "  Never  mind,"  said  a. 
Director,  •"  call  them  back  and  we  will  visit  the 
school  as  the  law  requires."  It  occurred  to  me, 
"  How  will  you  visit  them  twice?"  The  children 
were  seated,  and  one  of  the  visitors  made  a  few 
remarks,  complimenting  the  teacher  and  the  pupils, 
and  informed  me  that  I  could  give  the  children  a 
recess.  So  the  children  were  excused  for  five 
minutes,  being  told  to  return  at  the  'usual  signal. 
The  visitors  went  out  to  a  store  near  by.  After 
the  children  had  taken  their  seats  again,  the  Di- 
rectors made  their  second  visit,  bowing  to  the 
school  and  the  teacher.  Another  member  of  the 
committee  expressed  his  views  of  the  school,  stat- 
ing his  appreciation  of  the  cheerful  and  happy 
condition  of  all  concerned,  and  giving  us  his  con- 
gratulations, and  hoped  that  some  one  of  those 
present  might  one  day  become  President  of  the 


MY  FIRST  SCHOOL.  IO/ 

United  States.  The  Committee  withdrawing, 
the  school  was  dismissed  again.  The  legal  de- 
mands were  answered,  and  my  salary  was  secured 
from  the  school  fund. 

Soon  after  commencing  my  work  in  Monroe, 
there  appeared  a  young  Frenchman  amongst  the 
children  one  day,  taking  his  seat  with  the  other 
pupils.  I  found  that  he  was  a  fresh  arrival  from 
Paris,  and  was  sent  by  his  uncle  in  New  York  to 
Monroe  to  learn  English  in  a  country  school.  At  the 
time  it  appeared  to  me  sufficiently  absurd.  He  could 
say  only  "  thank  you,"  "if  you  please,"  and  re- 
peat the  ordinary  oaths  which  he  had  heard  from 
the  sailors,  coming  across  the  ocean.  And  that 
he  should  be  sent  to  a  school  to  learn  English  ! 
But  noticing  the  rapid  progress  of  this  young  man 
from  his  contact  with  the  children  in  the  school- 
room and  on  the  play-ground,  day  after  day,  I 
concluded  that  his  uncle  knew  more  about  teach- 
ing language  than  I  ever  dreamed  of.  In  less  than 
five  months,  he  could  speak  English  more  rapidly 
than  any  boy  on  the  play-ground,  but  not,  per- 
haps, as  correctly.  When  he  was  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced, he  told  me  his  uncle  had  assured  him  he 
could  learn  English  the  most  rapidly  and  cor- 
rectly in  a  public  school.  He  was  being  trained 
for  a  clerk  in  his  uncle's  jewelry  shop,  and  he  was 
thus  placed  among  children  to  learn  English  in  its 
simplest  expressions  and  in  its  purest  idiomatic 
forms.  This  was  a  lesson  in  the  study  of  languages 
which  has  been  of  use  to  me  in  all  succeeding 


IO8  REMINISCENCES. 

years.  In  consequence,  I  have  never  furnished 
an  American  teacher  for  a  foreign  language,  nor 
permitted  my  pupils  to  waste  their  time  in  such  a 
hopeless  manner. 

After  closing  my  career  in  Monroe,  I  made  my 
arrangements  to  go  to  New  York,  and  prosecute 
my  preparations  for  the  business  of  engineering. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

IN  the  early  summer  of  1835,  I  went  to  New 
York  City,  without  letters  of  introduction  or 
recommendation,  seeking  for  such  business  as 
would  give  me  support  and  preparation  for  the 
profession  of  engineering.  There  were  no  en- 
gineering-schools, and  had  there  been,  I  would  not 
have  been  able  to  attend  them  as  a  pupil.  It  was 
necessary  that  I  should  make  my  own  support. 
In  looking  about  the  city,  for  an  establishment 
where  engineering  instruments  were  manufactured, 
the  first  that  I  came  to  of  this  kind,  was  Blunt's, 
corner  of  Water  Street  and  Maiden  Lane.  I  ad- 
dressed one  of  the  brothers,  asking  him  if  he 
wished  to  hire  a  hand.  "  What  can  you  do,  sir?" 
"I  don't  know,  indeed,  sir,  until  I  am  tried. '' 
"What  wages  do  you  expect?"  "  No  more  than 
I  am  worth,  sir."  "Who  is  to  determine  what 
you  are  worth?"  "  I  will  leave  that  to  you,  sir; 
but  you  will  surely  be  willing  to  pay  me  my 
board?"  "Have  you  ever  worked  with  tools?" 
' '  Yes,  sir. "  '  'Well,  when  do  you  wish  to  begin  ?" 
This  was  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon. 
(109) 


I  IO  REMINISCENCES. 

"Now,  sir,  if-you  please."  He  spoke  to  his  fore- 
man in  the  fourth  story,  through  a  speaking-tube, 
telling  him  that  a  new  hand  would  be  sent  up  to 
him.  I  passed  up,  and  found  myself  in  a  shop 
with  about  a  dozen  workmen.  The  foreman  placed 
me  at  a  heavy  lathe.  The  work  he  set  me  at  was 
that  of  turning  gimbals,  about  twelve  inches  in 
diameter,  for  mariners'  compasses.  Remember- 
ing that  I  was  on  trial,  I  did  my  very  best,  so 
much  so,  that  I  had  very  little  sleep  that  night, 
I  was  on  hand  in  good  time  the  next  morning,  de 
termined  to  push  through  my  work,  but  after 
turning  several  of  these  brass  rings,  I  told  the 
foreman,  who  was  an  intelligent  Yankee,  that  it 
was  rather  hard  work  for  me  to  begin  with,  and  if 
he  would  give  me  something  lighter  for  a  day  or 
two,  I  should  then  be  able  to  do  this  kind  of  work. 
He  did  so,  and  I  was  so  successful  in  various  kinds 
of  work  given  me,  that  I  had  the  exquisite  satis- 
faction, at  the  end  of  the  week,  of  receiving  pay 
for  my  time  at  the  rate  of  a  dollar  a  day,  in. silver 
dollars.  The  foreman  himself,  only  received  $i.  50, 
and  the  other  hands,  $1.25.  The  next  week  I 
was  paid  $7  for  six  days'  work,  which,  to  me, 
under  the  circumstances,  was  very  encouraging. 
I  had  secured  board  at  a  respectable  house  in  the 
Bowery,  with  a  cousin,  the  managing  editor  of  a 
daily  paper.  My  fellow-boarders  were  two  married 
gentlemen  with  their  wives  and  children,  two  edi- 
tors, four  journeyman  printers,  four  young  ladies 
employed  in  a  hat  establishment,  besides  the  niece 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  Ill 

of  my  landlady.  .  Our  hostess  was  the  wife  of  the 
brother  of  the  partner   of  Horace   Greely.     She 
was  an  educated  lady,  yet  of  most  excellent  busi- 
ness ability.      Her  husband  proving  a  wreck  from 
intemperance,  she  was  obliged  to  support  herself 
and  her  children.     The   niece   was  taking  music 
lessons  in  the  city,   and  paid  her  board.     With 
such  a  variety  of  minds  and  employments,  my  ex- 
periences in  my  New  York  home  were  full  of  in- 
cidents,  and   sufficiently  novel  and  spicy.      Our 
discussions  on  politics,  science  and  religion  were 
continuous,    earnest,    and    in   some  cases,    rather 
belligerent.      Among  our  male  boarders  we  had  a 
Mr.   Mitchell,  who  was  an  avowed   skeptic ;  two 
Universalists ;  three  Nothingarians,  as  they  called 
themselves ;  and    the  little    Presbyterian,   myself. 
In  all  the  discussions,  whether  in  politics,  or  relig- 
ion, or  science,  I  stood  by  the  standard,  and  read 
up  for  every  discussion,  which  I  thought  it  possible 
to  provoke.     Thus,  my  evenings  were  occupied, 
either  in  this  running  social  converse  and  vivacious 
discussion,    or  in  my  room  with   my  books,    of 
which  I  had  a  very  considerable  collection.     Not- 
withstanding that  in  my  opinion,  the  other  young 
men,  being  unmarried,  were  entirely  my  superiors 
in  physique,  and  in  knowledge  of  the  world,  and 
in  familiarity  with  society  usages,  I  was  not  a  lit- 
tle flattered  in  being  selected  by  Miss  M «-,  the 

niece  before  spoken  of,  as  the  recipient  of  a  free 
ticket  of  admission  from  her,  to  the  rehearsals  of 
the  New  York  Society  of  Music,  and  their  public 


112  REMINISCENCES. 

concerts.  This  was  my  first  experience  in  listen- 
ing to  any  other  music  than  that  found  in  relig- 
ious circles  and  societies.  For,  in  Boston,  I  had 
never  been  present  at  concerts,  and  only  once  at 
the  theater.  There  were  a  sufficient  number  of 
boarders  in  our  house  for  all  sorts  of  amusements 
and  games  and  plays  within  our  own  parlor.  It 
was  proposed,  however,  one  night,  that  we  should 
visit  a  public  ball,  given  on  Broadway.  Each 
gentleman  selected  his  lady  from  the  party,  and  I 
found  myself,  for  the  first  time,  in  a  promiscuous 
dance.  Not,  that  I  took  any  part  in  the  dancing, 
for  I  never  took  a  dancing  step  in  my  life,  but  it 
was  a  novel  scene.  My  partner,  Miss  House- 
holder, was  kept  upon  the  floor  in  every  set  of  the 
evening.  This  gave  me  leisure  to  make  my  ob- 
servations. It  was  the  first  and  last  ' '  Public  As- 
sembly "  that  I  ever  attended.  On  returning  from 
Broadway  to  the  Bowery,  I  took  the  lead,  and 
making  a  mistake  in  choosing  the  street  for  cross- 
ing the  Bowery,  I  led  my  company  into  the  very 
center  of  Five  Points.  Such  sights,  and  such 
sounds,  and  such  performances  as  were  presented, 
and  impossible  to  avoid,  made,  in  my  opinion,  a 
good  moral  impression  on  most  of  the  company. 
The  dancing  groups  which  we  saw,  were  many 
grades  lower  than  the  one  which  we  had  left,  but 
stifl,  to  my  mind,  a  legitimate  sequence  in  im- 
moral descent.  Occasionally,  I  visited  the  theater, 
but  usually  with  a  lady  of  whom  I  was  proudr 
but  I  spent  very  little  money  on  the  theater  com- 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  113 

pared  with  the  other  young  men  of  our  company. 
My  observations  upon  city  life  and  city  associa- 
tions, even  with  the  respectable  parties  with  which 
I  was  familiar,  were  sufficient,  independent  of  any 
'religious  convictions,  to  insure  my  safety  against 
all  the  seductions  of  city  life. 

My  common  evening  employment,  as  I  have  be- 
fore stated,  was  with  my  books,  in  pursuing  my 
studies,  and  in  reading  such  other  volumes  as  I 
could  borrow  from  the.  Mechanics'  Institute  Li- 
brary. This  association  was  designed  to  afford  a 
respectable  and  safe  place  for  evening  entertain- 
ment. The  membership  fee  .was  only  $i,  and. a 
course  of  scientific  lectures  was  furnished;  com- 
petent and  interesting  lecturers  were  employed  to 
give  us  a  course  of  weekly  lectures  on  chemistry. 
I  had  myself,  in  Boston,  given  considerable  at- 
tention to  this  science,  and  had  been  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  chemical  apparatus,  with  my 
father.  I  was  sufficiently  -interested  to  attend 
these  lectures  regularly,  and  to  invite  a  young 
lady  to  go  with  me.  Almost  every  lecture  was 
attended  with  some  experience  not  laid  down  in 
the  programme.  On  one  occasion,  while  attend- 
ing a  lecture  by  Dr.  Gale,  on  chemistry,  he  was 
manufacturing  water,  by  passing  an  electric  spark 
through  a  gallon  measure  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen 
contained  in  a  heavy  glass  globe.  This  globe  was 
connected  by  means  of  a  stopcock,  with  a  larger 
vessel  containing  many  gallons  of  those  two  gases 
mingled  in  suitable  proportions.  He  managed 
8 


1 14  REMINISCENCES. 

the  stopcock,  and  his  assistant  turned  the  electric 
machine  which  furnished  the  spark.  In  explain- 
ing the  theory,  he  neglected,  at  a  certain  point,  to 
turn  the  stopcock,  while  the  attendant,  as  usual, 
turned  his  machine.  The  result  was  a  terrible  ex- 
plosion of  the  gas  in  the  larger  vessel,  as  well  as 
in  the  smaller  one.  The  lights  were  extinguished, 
the  glass  globe  was  fractured,  and  the  screams  of 
the  ladies  added  excitement  to  the  disaster.  The 
attendant  hastened  to  light  the  gas,  and  found  the 
Doctor  badly  wounded  in  his  arm,  and  blood  flow- 
ing freely.  No  other  one  in  the  room  was  injured, 
although  I  was  conscious  of  a  fragment  of  glass 
passing  near  my  right  ear.  The  Doctor  quietly  re- 
marked that  the  demonstration  of  the  force  of  the 
gases  was  rather  more  striking,  so  far  as  he  was 
concerned,  than  he  had  intended.  I  said  to  my  com- 
panion, it  was  a  more  interesting  experiment,  ex- 
cepting the  Doctor's  wound,  than  I  had  paid  for. 

On  another  occasion,  the  Doctor  exhibited  the 
power  of  oxygen  as  a  supporter  of  combustion,  in 
connection  with  phosphorus.  Whether  he  was 
aware  of  the  quantity  of  phosphorus  he  had  used, 
or  not,  I  am  not  able  to  say,  but  another  ex- 
plosion followed  as  before.  The  lights  were  ex- 
tinguished, and  the  ladies  screamed.  I  heard  a 
a  lady  in  my  rear  groan  as  if  badly  wounded. 
When  the  lights  were  restored,  it  was  found  that 
this  lady  was  very  badly  wounded  in  her  cheek.  The 
Doctor  was  called,  she  was  taken  to  an  adjoining 
room,  and  the  lecture,  for  this  time,  was  adjourned, 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  11$ 

all  feeling  that  either  the  Doctor  was  too  lavish  of 
his  materials,  or  too  lacking  in  previous  experi- 
ence. 

After  the  lectures  on  chemistry  were  concluded, 
Mr.  Graham,  of  Graham-bread  notoriety,  was  em- 
ployed to  give  a  course  of  lectures  on  diet.  There 
was  not  enough  of  variety  or  interest  in  this  to 
hold  the  attendance.  As  I  now  remember,  these 
lectures  closed  my  connection  with  the  Mechanics' 
Institute.  But  the  greatest  advantage  of  this  In- 
stitute was  that  it  furnished  me  all  the  books  I 
needed,  in  order  to  pursue  my  studies  and  reading. 
This  course  of  study  and  reading  in  my  evening 
hours,  was  then,  as  it  ever  has  been,  a  leading 
feature  of  my  life,  and  perhaps  contributed  more 
than  any  other  human  means  to  my  moral  safety. 
And  it  seems  to  me  now,  as  far  as  I  can  observe, 
that  the  parent  who  does  not  furnish  his  family 
with  home  reading,  or  the  young  man  or  young 
woman  who  does  not  furnish  himself  with  this 
kind  of  occupation  and  interest,  is  very  derelict  in 
his  duty,  and  throws  his  family  or  himself  into 
very  unnecessary  and  dangerous  temptation.  My 
studies  were  frequently  protracted  until  eleven  or 
twelve  o'clock  at  night,  after  working  ten  hours  a 
•day  in  the  mathematical  instrument  shop,  and  no 
doubt,  the  lack  of  sleep  and  the  want  of  muscular 
activity,  for  I  was  then  furnished  with  the  nice 
and  delicate  work  which  confined  me  to  a  seat, 
were  causes  of  the  sudden  collapse  of  my  .health. 
My  employers  were  very  patient  with  me,  and 


Il6  REMINISCENCES. 

generally  paid  me  full  wages  when  I  was  detained 
on  account  of  sickness,  as  I  frequently  was  one  or 
two  days  in  a  week.  I  became  dissatisfied  with 
this  kind  of  life,  and  concluded  I  would  seek  a 
change  in  the  country.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  I  went  to  West  Troy,  and  obtained  employ- 
ment with  the  Meneely's  Mathematical  Instrument 
Makers.  My  work  was  agreeable,  and  my  wages 
were  better  than  in  the  city,  but  my  health  was 
miserable.  I  returned  again  to  the  city,  thinking 
that  I  would  try  to  board  myself,  and  pursue 
such  a  regimen  as  would  relieve  my  dyspepsia. 
This  experiment  was  only,  a  partial  success.  It 
was  during  this  period  of  boarding  myself,  and 
working  as  well  as  my  health  would  admit, 
that  I  received  a  visit  from  my  father,  who  was 
then  lecturing  in  Pennsylvania.  In  May  of  1836, 
he  came  to  attend  the  National  Association  of  Ed- 
ucation, which  he  had  previously  been  instru- 
mental in  organizing  in  Boston.  My  father's 
dissatisfaction  with  the  course  pursued  by  the 
gentlemen  who  were  leaders  in  this  enterprise  was 
very  forcibly  expressed,  in  language  something 
like  this :  ' '  There  is  nothing  that  can  be  accepta- 
ble to  these  gentlemen,  that  I  have  not  tried  and 
rejected  in  teaching,  years  ago,  and  anything  new 
I  may  propose  for  the  consideration  of  the  Asso- 
ciation is  dismissed  as  impracticable  and  visionary. 
The  time  will  come,  however,"  said  he,  "when 
these  gentlemen  or  their  successors  will  say  that 
the  measures  which  I  have  proposed,  are  such  as 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  1 1/ 

have  been  entertained  and  practiced  by  all  educa- 
tors from  the  time  of  Socrates,  though  now 
they  declare  them  revolutionary  and  visionary." 
Not  being  then  a  teacher  myself,  or  expecting  to 
be,  I  took  comparatively  little  interest  in  my 
father's  work  in  education.  Since  then,  and  es- 
pecially for  the  last  twenty  years,  father's  experi- 
ence of  fifty  years  ago  has  often  recurred  to  me  in 
my  experience  with  leading  educators  and  others 
of  my  time. 

At  our  boarding-place  in  the  Bowery,  we  had 
occasionally,  as  an  invited  guest,  at  our  dinner- 
table  on  Sabbath,  Horace  Greeley.  Mr.  Greeley 
added  but  little  to  the  interest  of  the  occasion,  for 
the  reason  that  he  was  rather  reticent,  and  not  par- 
ticularly attractive  in  person.  He  was  even  then 
conceived  to  be  a  kind  of  curiosity.  The  same 
method  of  wearing  his  hat,  and  the  same  old  white 
overcoat  in  which  he  has  been  caricatured,  made 
up  a  part  of  his  personal  appearance.  I  do  not 
remember  that  he  made  a  single  brilliant  or  inter- 
esting observation  during  the  several  occasions 
when  he  was  with  us  at  the  long  Sunday  dinners. 
His  paper  at  that  time  was  beginning  to  excite  at- 
tention, and  his  robust  and  energetic  thinking  was 
making  for  itself  its  own  channel  through  politics, 
agriculture,  and  social  improvements.  Little  did 
I  think  at  that  time  that  Horace  Greeley  would 
afterward  stand  at  the  head  of  the  profession  of 
journalism,  or  that  he  would  ever  be  a  candidate 


Il8  REMINISCENCES. 

for  the  Presidency,  for  any  party  whatever,  and 
much  less  for  the  Democratic  party. 

Our  hostess,  one  day,  came  in  to  dinner  with  a 
letter  in  her  hand,  remarking  :   "  It  is  too  good  to 

keep  ;  I  must  read  you  this  letter.     Mr.  P has 

just  left  us,  and  I  suppose  not  to  return.  He  had 
put  into  my  hands  this  letter  from  a  lady  of  New 
Jersey,  who  is  reputed  to  be  immensely  wealthy, 
having  an  income  of  $20, ooo  a  year."  Perhaps  I 
ought  to  have  mentioned  that  this  gentleman  was 
a  refugee  from  Ireland.  He  had  been  appre- 
hended and  imprisoned  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment, as  having  been  engaged  in  treasonable 
meetings  in  Ireland.  He  was  well  aware  that  the 
testimony  was  sufficient  to  hang  him  for  treason. 
During  the  three  days  that  he  was  incarcerated, 
expecting  to  be  tried  and  convicted,  his  consterna- 
tion and  agony  were  of  such  an  intense  character, 
that,  being  released  as  he  was,  through  bribing  his 
jailer,  he  found  that  his  hair  had  turned  white,  al- 
though he  was  only  twenty-five  years  old.  He 
was,  otherwise  than  his  hair,  one  of  the  finest 
specimens  of  physical  manhood  that  I  ever  saw. 
The  letter  which  the  good  lady  read  to  us — and 
she  said  it  was  not  a  letter  which  she  conceived  to 
be  of  a  confidential  nature — was  simply  an  offer  of 
marriage  from  the  wealthy  New  Jersey  lady  to  our 

friend  Mr.  P .     She  further  remarked  that  he  had 

consulted  her  in  regard  to  the  propriety  of  his  ac- 
cepting her  overtures,  and  she  had  told  him  that 
she  was  utterly  unable  to  decide ;  in  fact,  he  had 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  1 19 

nothing  to  do  but  consult  his  own  feelings  and  in- 
terest. As  she  described  it,  the  poor  man  was 
utterly  at  a  loss,  and  suffered  intensely  from  anx- 
iety. She  smilingly  remarked,  that  she  hoped 
his  anxiety  would  turn  his  hair  black  again,  as  it 
had  previously  turned  it  white.  Whether  he  ever 
married  the  New  Jersey  lady  or  not,  (we  were  in- 
formed she  was  over  sixty)  I  never  ascertained, 
and  I  never  heard  anything  more  of  the  handsome 
Irishman. 

While  I  was  employed  in  New  York  City  in 
pursuing  the  preparation  for  my  proposed  profes- 
sion— engineering — this  circumstance  occurred: 
A  Catholic  gentleman  came  to  our  boarding-place 
at  the  instance  of  the  white-haired  Irishman,  who 
was  also  a  Catholic,  and  made  a  pleasant  impres- 
sion. He  claimed  to  be,  and  no  doubt  was,  an 
Italian  nobleman.  After  the  loss  of  young 

Mr.  P ,  our  Italian  friend  disappeared,  and  I 

heard  no  more  from  him  for  some  weeks.  The 
papers  then  had  a  long  account  of  an  affair  in 
Baltimore,  which  I  shall  here  condense: 

It  seems  that,  having  adopted  the  vocation  of 
priest  in  Italy,  and  having  given  up  his  estates  to 
the  Church,  he  had  found  himself  so  restless  that 
he  concluded  to  take  orders  as  a  missionary  in 
foreign  parts.  The  circumstances  of  his  taking 
orders,  as  related  in  the  papers,  were  these:  He 
was  a  nobleman  by  birth,  the  heir  to  extensive  es- 
tates in  the  Pope's  dominions  in  Northern  Italy. 
At  Rome  he  met  a  princess,  the  heiress,  also,  to 


I2O  REMINISCENCES. 

immense  estates  in  Southern  Italy.  A  mutual  at- 
tachment sprung  up,  and  they  were  engaged  to 
be  married  at  a  not  remote  time  in  the  future.  A 
brisk  correspondence  was  carried  on,  as  is  usual 
in  such  cases;  but  at  length  the  correspondence 
waned ;  the  letters  were  not  immediately  answered. 
The  prince  now  and  then  received  a  letter,  but  at 
length  the  princess's  letters  ceased  entirely,  and 
he  learned  from  a  priest,  the  father  confessor  of 
the  princess,  that  she  was  sick  with  a  dangerous 
disease,  and  was  furthermore  informed  that  it 
would  be  fatal  to  her  if  she  were  subjected,  in  this 
condition,  to  the  excitement  of  seeing  him.  Thus 
he  was  deterred  from  making  further  investiga- 
tion, waiting  most  anxiously  the  result  of  this 
sickness.  He  was  at  length  informed  that  she 
"had  died  and  was  buried.  Under  such  circum- 
stances, in.  his  despair,  and  in  the  consolations 
which  were  rendered  by  the  Church,  he  was  led  to 
devote  himself  to  the  Church  and  to  immure  him- 
self in  a  monastery  as  one  of  the  brethren.  He 
passed  two  or  three  years  in  this  condition,  se- 
cluding himself  almost  from  human  intercourse, 
and  thus  taking  upon  himself  what  he  supposed 
tp  be  voluntary  punishment  of  his  sins  in  addition 
to  the  loss  of  his  beloved  one.  Recovering  some- 
what in  course  of  time  from  his  depression,  he 
sought  an  opportunity  from  his  superiors  to  obtain 
an  appointment  on  a  mission  to  foreign  parts,  not 
in  the  least  abjuring  his  vows  or  claiming  his  es- 
tates. He  passed  through  France  and  England 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  121 

and  America,  all  the  while  keeping  himself  in  as- 
sociation with  the  brethren  of  his  order,  who  were 
found  in  almost  every  Catholic  community.  After 
leaving  New  York,  as  I  have  before  said,  he  vis- 
ited the  Catholic  College  of  Baltimore.  Now, 
with  that  college  is  connected  a  convent,  the  first, 
most  extensive  and  wealthy  of  any  of  the  convents 
in  America.  In  one  of  his  visits  to  the  convent, 
and  to  the  chapel  where  the  nuns  were  accus- 
tomed to  worship,  he,  from  some  accident  or  mis- 
direction or  misunderstanding  of  the  course  he 
should  take  to  reach  the  chapel,  passed  through  a 
hall  designed  exclusively  for  the  use  of  the  nuns. 
The  nuns,  not  now  being  in  public,  had  removed 
their  veils,  and  were,  no  doubt,  a  little  surprised 
to  see  a  man  in  that  unwonted  locality.  Our 
priest  was  also  somewhat  discomposed  by  the  suc- 
cession and  array  of  beauties  that  passed  under 
his  unexpected  observation.  As  he  became  -inter- 
terested  in  their  countenances,  his  eyes  met  those 
of  his  princess  among  the  nuns.  They,  of  course, 
recognized  each  other,  but  not  a  word,  not  a  lisp, 
not  a  sign,  passed  between  them ;  they  understood 
their  ground  too  well.  Now  the  object  was  to  get 
communication  with  each  other.  The  servants 
around  such  establishments  are  not  entirely  be- 
yond price,  and  the  prince  managed  in  some  way 
or  other  to  secure  the  friendship  and  confidence 
of  the  servant  who  was  accustomed  to  give  her  at- 
tentions to  the  most  beautiful  of  the  daughters  of 
the  Church.  Their  correspondence  was  carried  on 


.122  REMINISCENCES. 

through  this  means  most  industriously  for  a  length 
of  time.      By  some  means  the  poor,  impoverished 
priest,  the  prince  that  was,  secured  for  the  use  of 
his  princess  a  rope  ladder,  and  she  was  enabled, 
under  some  holy  pretense  or  other,  to  find  herself 
in  a  cell  which  opened  upon  the  outer  grounds. 
Having  this  arrangement  made,   he  appeared  in 
the   neighborhood  with  a  covered  carriage,  and, 
finding  himself  under  the  appointed  window   of 
an  outside  cell,  received  her  in  his  arms,  as  she 
descended   by  the  rope  ladder.     They  escaped; 
but  what  was  the  sequel  of  this  romantic  affair — 
whether  they  obtained  their  estates  and  their  titles 
— I  never  learned.      It  will  be  inferred  that  a  simi- 
lar course  of  deceit  had   been   practiced   on   the 
princess,  and  that  her  estates  had  been  secured  for 
the  Church  by  similar  means.      But  these  circum- 
stances were  the   wonder   of  the  day,  or  of  the 
week,  in  the  newspapers  of  New  York  and  other 
cities. 

Speaking  of  the  Catholics,  I  am  reminded  here 
of  a  circumstance  related  to  me  by  my  former 
partner,  Dr.  John  Nichols,  of  Kirtland,  now  of 
Columbus.  He  was  attending  medical  lectures  at 
Transylvania  University,  Louisville,  Ky.  Being 
desirous  of  learning  the  French  language,  he  ac- 
cepted, as  a  room-mate,  a  French  Catholic,  who 
was  attending  the  same  course  of  lectures  with 
himself.  The  conversation  was  held  for  the  most 
part  in  French,  and  the  frequent  subject  of  discus- 
sion was  the  claims  of  the  Catholic  Church, 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  123 

ecclesiastically  and  historically  considered.  The 
.Frenchman  had  received  an  academical  education 
in  a  Catholic  college  in  Paris,  and  was  well  versed 
in  all  the  literature  and  technique  of  the  Catholic 
Church  and  priesthood,  having  been  educated 
with  the  priests,  but  himself  not  yet  having  taken 
orders.  There  was  no  end  of  discussion;  in  fact, 
all  the  time  consistent  with  the  claims  of  their 
professional  study  was  given  to  this  matter  of 
common  interest — the  claims  (pretensions,  as  Dr. 
Nichols  termed  it)  of  the  Catholic  Church,  as 
the  one  and  only  successor  and  possessor  of 
Christ's  authority  on  earth.  The  history  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  as  given  by  Dr.  Nichols  from 
Protestant  writers,  was  treated  with  utter  con- 
tempt by  his  room-mate,  as  utterly  unworthy  of 
credence  or  of  respect.  The  doctor  found  that 
there  was  no  historical  statement  made  by  any 
Protestant  which  militated  in  any  way  against  the 
dignity  and  rectitude  of  the  Church  as  a  church, 
or  against  the  Pope  as  a  Pope,  or  the  Cardinal  as 
as  a  Cardinal,  or  priests  as  priests,  in  any  of  these 
special  capacities,  but  there  was  a  counterpart 
found  in  the  Catholic  books  which  the  Frenchman 
had  in  his  possession.  No  greater  confidence  or 
veneration  or  devotion  could  be  possibly  expressed 
or  conceived  than  that  which  the  gentleman  gave 
to  these  authorities  and  to  the  Church  at  large. 
In  his  view,  the  Church  was  infallible  and  had 
never  done  wrong.  Every  form  of  persecution 
and  assassination  attributed  to  the  Church,  or  any 


124  REMINISCENCES. 

of  its  officials,  was  utterly  denied,  or  so  modified 
as  to  prove  the  extreme  liberality,  charity,  truth- 
fulness and  faithfulness  of  the  Church.  These  two 
gentlemen  occupied  adjoining  rooms,  one  for 
study  and  the  other  as  a  sleeping-room,  with  two 
beds.  Coming  in  from  some  business  one  day, 
the  doctor  overheard  his  chum  talking  earnestly 
and  excitedly  with  a  stranger  in  the  bedroom,  the 
stranger  apparently  attending  meanwhile  to  his 
toilet.  The  doctor  was  a  common  occupant  of  the 
two  rooms.  The  door  was  ajar,  and  the  sum  and 
substance  of  the  conversation,  as  he  gleaned  it 
from  the- inquiries  and  protestations  and  exclama- 
tions of  his  room-mate,  revealed  to  the  doctor  his 
utter  disbelief  and  contempt  of  the  Catholic  Church 
and  its  assumptions  ;  of  its  priestcraft  and  its  subju- 
gation of  women,  etc.,  etc.  In  speaking  of  this 
friend  and  that  as  having  taken  orders,  of  this 
young  lady  and  that  as  having  taken  the  veil, 
amazement  was  mingled  with  execrations  of  the 
priests  and  their  ma-naging  to  get  possession  of 
such  remarkably  intelligent  men  and  beautiful  and 
attractive  women,  and  getting  them  under  their 
priestly  control.  The  doctor  was,  of  course,  in- 
terested in  this  line  of  revelation  from  his  devoted 
Catholic  friend ;  but,  the  doctor  coughing,  or 
making  some  other  audible  sign,  his  chum  opened 
the  door,  found  him  there  and  saw  at  once  the  sit- 
uation. " Oh,"  said  the  Frenchman,  "you  have 
caught  me  at  last.  Oh,  well,"  said  he,  "you 
know  well  enough  how  it  is ;  religion  is  necessary 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  125 

for  society,  to  control  women  and  weak-minded 
men ;  but  so  far  as  you  and  I  and  other  intelligent 
men  are  concerned,  in  this  country  and  France — 
bah!  it's  only  so  deep,"  making  a  gesture  (by 
drawing  his  finger  across  his  lips),  supposed  to 
signify  "skin  deep."  "Now,  doctor,  confess — 
you  have  got  to  confess ! — you  have  no  more  con- 
fidence in  your  Protestant  fables  than  I  have  in 
the  rigmaroles  and  stupidity  and  assumptions  of 
our  Church.  Both  are  useful  for  women  and  chil- 
dren, to  keep  them  in  their  places." 

One  of  our  boarders  was  the  confidential  clerk 
in  the  establishment  of  Arthur  Tappan,  the  lead- 
ing silk  merchant  of  New  York  at  that  time.  Now, 
several  months  previous  to  this,  his  house  had 
been  mobbed,  his  windows  broken  in,  and  much 
of  his  furniture  ruined,  while  he  escaped  by  a  back 
passage.  This  frenzy  of  the  mob  was  occasioned 
by  the  fact  that  he  was  an  abolitionist.  It  was, 
perhaps,  incited  by  his  rivals  in  the  silk  trade,  who 
had  desired  to  secure  that  part  of  the  Southern 
patronage  which  he  controlled.  His  patronage 
was  not  diminished  in  any  direction,  but  was  very 
much  increased  in  the  North,  by  the  mob  which 
was  set  on  by  his  rivals.  His  store  was  well 
guarded  by  private  police,  and  was  never  at- 
tacked. The  fire  companies,  however,  refused  to. 
take  risks  on  any  of  his  property,  either  on  his 
residence  or  on  his  silk  establishment.  On  New 
Year's  night,  of  1836,  commenced  the  great  fire 
of  New  York,  the  first  great  fire  on  this  Continent. 


126  REMINISCENCES. 

I  ascended  to  the  observatory  of  my  boarding-place, 
and  looking  for  the  fire,  discovered  that  it  was  in 
the  direction  of  rny  place  of  business,  and  was  an 
immense  and  rapidly  extending  conflagration. 
The  fire  continued  all  that  night,  and  raged  with 
uncontrolled  fury.  The  bells  were  tolled  in  every 
direction,  and  there  was  little  sleep  in  the  city  that 
night.  There  being  no  telegraph,  word  was  sent 
as  speedily  as  possible  to  Philadelphia  and  other 
places  for  help  in  the  fire  department.  The  fire- 
men and  citizens  were  utterly  exhausted  ;  water 
froze  in  the  hose.  It  became  impossible  to  obtain 
water,  or  when  obtained,  to  throw  it  upon  the 
fire.  In  the  early  part  of  the  evening,  ' '  Old 
Hayes,"  High  Sheriff  of  the  city,  ever  on  the  alert, 
went  to  the  post-office,  and  remarked  to  the  post- 
master that  he  had  better  commence  packing  the 
letters  for  removal.  The  fire  at  that  time  was 
more  than  a  mile  from  the  post-office.  The  post- 
master pooh-poohed  at  the  idea  of  the  fire  reach- 
ing that  part  of  the  city.  Hayes  went  out  to  view 
the  fire  again.  He  returned  and  begged  the  post- 
master to  prepare  at  once  for  removing  the  postal 
matter.  The  postmaster  refused,  and  said  it  was 
impossible  for  the  fire  to  come  that  distance.  Hayes 
declared  it  would  be  there  before  morning,  and 
went  out  again,  and  was  gone  but  a  few  minutes, 
when  he  returned,  and  declared:  "I  command 
you  in  the  name  of  the  commonwealth  of  New 
York,  immediately  to  begin  the  removal  of  these 
letters,  or  I  shall  take  charge  of  them  myself. " 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  I2/ 

The  postmaster  at  once  commenced  to  prepare 
for  removal.  The  fire  reached  the  post-office  be- 
fore they  could  remove  all  the  letters,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  papers  and  other  mail_  matter.  The 
Sheriff  had  taken  possession  of  the  city,  and  had 
ordered  out  military  companies  in  addition  to  all 
the  police  force,  and  at  a  sufficient  distance  from 
the  ever-increasing  energy  of  the  fire,  he  placed 
kegs  of  powder  under  the  beams  of  houses,  and 
destroyed  a  sufficient  number  to  check  the  on- 
ward march  of  the  raging  element.  In  this  way 
only  was  the  city  saved  from  utter  destruction. 
Going  down  to  my  place  of  business  on  the  next 
day  but  one  after  the  fire  had  been  checked,  and 
in  a  measure  brought  under  control,  I  found  that 
it  had  come  within  one  block  of  our  building. 
Passing  down  into  the  fire-district,  I  found  a  man 
here  and  there  standing  upon  the  wrecks  of  his  for- 
tune. Especially  do  I  remember  the  .conversation 
of  two  men  who  were  adjoining  wholesale  mer- 
chants. One  said,  "  Did  you  save  your  books  ?" 
"Yes;  did  you  save  yours?"  "No,  everything 
is  gone.  It  is  the  only  night  for  ten  years  that  I 
have  not  taken  my  books  out,  but  it  was  so  cold 
I  thought  I  would  not  take  them." 

The  insurance  companies  were  all  broken  up, 
and  paid  from  five  to  ten  per  cent,  of  all  their  in- 
surance claims.  Now,  Arthur  Tappan  had  not 
been  able  to  effect  any  insurance  in  any  of  the  com- 
panies in  New  York,  on  account  of  being  threat- 
ened by  mobs  and  incendiaries.  For  this  reason 


128  REMINISCENCES. 

he  had  obtained  insurance,  and  full  insurance  too, 
in  Boston  companies.  I  was  standing  upon  the 
debris  of  this  immense  establishment  on  Pearl 
Street,  with  the  confidential  clerk  above  mentioned, 
when  he  remarked  to  me  that  he  had  heard  Mr. 
Tappan  say  a  short  time  previous  that  he  was 
worth  more  in  consequence  of  the  fire  than  if  it 
had  not  occurred.  While  many  other  merchants 
had  offered  $10  an  hour  for  draymen  to  take  away 
their  goods  to  a  place  of  safety,  the  colored  dray- 
men had  come  without  his  solicitation,  and  charg- 
ing no  more  than  the  usual  rates,  and  had  taken 
all  his  goods  to  a  colored  church,  in  a  remote  part 
of  the  city.  More  than  that,  in  consequence  of 
the  straightening  and  widening  of  the  street,  and 
the  erection  of  new  stores,  and  the  greater  attract- 
iveness of  the  location,  for  different  forms  of 
wholesale  business,  he  was  satisfied  that  the  lots 
with  the  builjdings  burned  upon  them,  for  he  owned 
a  block,  were  worth  more  than  they  were  before 
the  fire.  At  the  same  time,  of  course,  he  recovered 
his  insurance  for  whatever  apparent  loss  he  had 
been  subjected  to.  So,  in  these  ways,  he  was  re- 
imbursed for  the  hazards  that  his  maintenance  of  a 
principle  had  brought  upon  him.  Not  long  after 
this,  Mr.  Tappan,  with  perhaps  one  or  two  other 
capitalists,  furnished  the  means  for  beginning  the 
educational  career  of  Oberlin,  Ohio. 

While  in  New  York,  I  was  accustomed  to  at- 
tend services  on  Sabbath  wherever  there  was  a 
prominent  preacher  or  an  eloquent  speaker.  Most 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  I  29 

frequently  was  I  found  at  the  Chatham  Street  Thea- 
ter, then  used  by  Mr.  Finney  as  a  place  of  his 
great  revival  work.  It  was  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Five  Points.  His  labors  there,  his 
earnestness,  his  eloquence,  and  his  great  success, 
drew  immense  crowds,  more  than  could  ever  enter 
the  building.  I  had  always  had  my  religious  con- 
victions; for,  trained  as  I  was,  it  could  not  be 
otherwise,  and  I  should  have  felt  that  religion  was 
a  positive,  energizing  power  to  save  mankind,  and 
bless  our  race ;  but  in  the  natural  course,  as  I  con- 
ceive, of  all  original  and  earnest  thinkers,  there 
came  a  time  to  me,  a  time  of  doubt,  while  attend- 
ing Mr.  Finney's  preaching.  I  don't  remember 
that  I  read  any  infidel  books.  I  had  known  of  Tom 
Paine's  cavilings,  and  I  had  been  in  conversation 
with  many  infidels,  more  or  less,  all  my  lifetime; 
and  especially  during  the  previous  winter  I  had 
had  many  an  argument  with  my  fellow-boarder, 
Mr.  Mitchell,  on  the  authenticity  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  validity  of  the  Christian  hope.  It  was  not  in 
consequence,  so  far  as  I  can  remember,  of  any- 
thing that  Mr.  Mitchell  had  presented,  nor  of  my 
readings,  as  I  have  before  said,  that  skepticism  in- 
vaded my  line  of  thought.  But  rather,  as  I  now 
think,  from  my  deductions,  from  the  declarations 
and  affirmations  of  Mr.  Finney,  and  his  what 
seemed  to  me  unreasonable  assertions  of  the  power 
of  the  gospel  in  making  man  a  new  creature.  I 
went  through  this  terrible  season  of  doubt.  I 
don't  know  now  that  I  ever  should  have  recovered, 
9 


I3O  REMINISCENCES. 

if  my  health  and  youthful  energies  had  not  been 
impaired.  The  Lord  knew  better  how  to  manage 
me  than  I  knew  how  to  manage  myself.  When  my 
health  had  failed,  my  animal  spirits  were  subsided, 
my  hopes  were  shattered  and  my  ambitions  frus- 
trated, I  had  time  and  disposition  then  to  reflect, 
and  feel  the  utter  helplessness  of  man  in  himself. 
In  sickness,  and  disappointment,  and  defeat,  I 
found  spiritual  deliverance,  and  learned  to  rejoice 
in  a  kind  Providence,  in  his  watchful  care,  and  in  his 
abounding  mercies.  Such  an  experience  I  should 
never  perhaps,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  have  known, 
had  not  I  been  the  subject  of  this  merciful  line  of 
training. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


MELISSA  AND  I. 

WE  were  first  cousins.  I  was  two  years  older 
than  she,  but  we  were  born  in  the  same  house,  in 
•the  same  room.  It  happened  on  this  wise :  After 
my  Grandfather  Holbrook's  death,  my  father  took 
charge  of  the  home  farm  and  occupied  the  house 
that  had  been  built  by  his  grandfather — an  im- 
mense frame  structure,  with  a  chimney  in  the 
middle  as  large  as  most  modern  houses.  During 
this  time  he  was  building  a  residence  for  himself 
on  Sentinel  Hill,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away. 
After  my  father  moved,  Aunt  Irene  Pierson,  with 
her  family,  occupied  the  old  homestead,  while  her 
husband  was  carrying  on  his  business  in  the  val- 
ley. The  family  nursery  was,  of  course,  occupied 
by  each  family.  My  grandfather  and  my  thirteen 
uncles  and  aunts  were  also  born  in  the  same  room. 

After  my  mother  died,  I  being  two  and  a  half 
years  old,  my  brother  Dwight  was  taken  by  his 
Grandmother  Swift  and  I  by  Aunt  Craft,1  the  wife 
of  Dr.  Craft,  the  leading  physician  of  Derby,  and 
the  oldest  of  my  uncles  or  aunts.  Melissa  was 
named  after  this  aunt,  and  was  ever  a  child  of 

(•so 


132  REMINISCENCES. 

special  interest,  as,  of  course,  I  was  to  this  same 
aunt.  As  children  we  were  both  trained  to  self- 
denial;  to  active  benevolence;  to  know  that  we 
were  the  children  of  many  prayers ;  to  feel  that  re- 
ligion was  a  practical,  living,  working  principle, 
and  otherwise  it  was  the  worst  of  shams — hypoc- 
risy. 

As  exemplifying  my  aunt's  religion,  I  might 
state  hundreds  of  facts,  but  two  or  three  will  suf- 
fice. While  her  income  from  her  husband's  es- 
tate— she  having  been  left  a  widow  about  a  year 
after  she  took  me — was  small,  not  more  than  three 
or  four  hundred  dollars  annually,  her  house  was 
the  home  or  refuge  consecutively  of  several  of  my 
cousins  who  were,  for  the  time,  left  homeless ;  also- 
•for  several  others  beyond  the  kindred,  who  were 
needy. 

For  several  years  she  added  to  her  means  of 
benevolence '  by  dipping  candles  for  the  uptown 
store.  It  was  my  part  to  prepare  the  wood,  the 
fire,  the  tallow,  the  candle-wicks  and  to  trim  the 
candles  after  they  were  dipped.  I  think  she  re- 
ceived a  cent  a  pound  for  this  work,  the  tallow 
and  wicking  being  furnished. 

There  were  two  maiden  ladies  living  near  us, 
great. aunts  of  Melissa's,  who  were  in  indigent  cir- 
cumstances. It  was  the  business  of  Aunt  Craft  to 
see  that  these  women  were  not  wanting  in  either 
necessaries  or  comforts.  For  several  years, 
through  aunt's  solicitations,  not  only  was  their 
winter's  wood  furnished  them  by  farmers  who  had 


MELISSA  AND  I.  133 

wood  to  sell,  but  her  nephews  and  other  boys 
were  induced  to  make  a  chopping  bee  and  cut  up 
and  split  the  big  pile  of  wood  thus  furnished,  and 
to  carry  it  into  the  wood-house.  The  cake  and 
pies  for  such  occasions  were  given,  in  part,  by  my 
good  aunt.  The  work  done  by  us  boys  under 
such  circumstances  was  reckoned  as  fun  rather 
than  as  drudgery.  While  my  aunt. kept  a  com- 
fortable table  for  those  whom  she  sheltered,  it 
was  a  common  remark  that  she  would  use  nothing 
for  herself  that  she  could  give  away.  Besides 
Aunt  Craft  and  Aunt  Pierson,  we,  Melissa  and  I, 
had  two  other  married  aunts  in  Derby.  At  the 
home  of  each  of  these,  the  several  sisters,  with 
their  children,  were  accustomed  to  meet  from 
time  to  time.  Melissa  and  I  were  among  the 
youngest  at  these  gatherings,  and  played  together 
as  a  part  of  the  group.  Melissa  was  a  frequent 
visitor  at  Aunt  Craft's ;  but  the  most  definite  recol- 
lection I  have  of  her  in  our  childhood  was  that  I 
was  set  down  by  her  side  as  a  punishment,  in  our 
pay-school,  conducted  by  Miss  Julia  Ann  Tom- 
linson,  afterwards,  Mrs.  George  Blakeman. 
Whether  or  not  it  had  the  desired  effect  of  keep- 
ing me  out  of  mischief,  I  do  not  remember.  It 
was  my  aunt's  special  aim  to  find  work  to  keep 
me  out  of  the  streets,  and  work  that  I  would 
cheerfully  do.  She  frequently  gave  me  stints  in 
cutting  and  splitting  wood,  with  some  money 
compensation  when  the  work  was  done.  She  en- 
couraged me  to  read,  obtaining  books  by  borrow- 


134  REMINISCENCES. 

ing  or  purchasing.  She  put  me  in  charge  of  her 
cow  and  garden,  always  working  with  me  when 
practicable.  The  only  penalty  she  ever  inflicted, 
that  I  remember,  was  when  I  had  disobeyed  her 
and  gone  away  with  other  boys  to  the  river  for 
bathing,  much  to  the  injury  of  my  health,  as  she 
thought,  to  look  at  me  very  sorrowfully  on  my 
return  and  say,  with  tears,  "I  am  so  sorry,  Al- 
fred, that  you  will  go  with  those  boys,  when  you 
know  that  they  are  disobeying  their  parents  as 
you  are  disobeying  me."  This  was  too  much  for 
me ;  I  broke  down  completely,  and  promised  her 
that  I  would  do  everything  she  wished. 

When  I  was  ten  years  of  age  and  Melissa  eight, 
Melissa's  parents  moved  to  Ohio.  We  were  thus 
lost  to  each  other  for  ten  years,  both  developing 
under  influences  favorable  for  our  future  fitness 
for  our  united  destinies  and  allotted  work. 

I  have  heard  Melissa  say  that  she  never  knew 
when  she  was  converted,  and  she  could  not  re- 
member the  time  when  she  did  not  pray  in  secret 
and  of  her  own  accord.  She  was  the  leader  in 
every  good  work,  though  modest  and  timid  to  the 
last  degree,  and  continued  so  to  the  end,  always 
placing  everybody's  interest  and 'comfort  before 
her  own. 

In  her  girlhood,  in  Kirtland,  she  would  go  a 
mile  every  night  through  the  woods  in  the  dark, 
over  an  almost  impassable  road,  to  attend  a  revival 
meeting  or  a  singing-school.  She  was  put  on  all 
committees  for  active  benevolent  work.  While 


MELISSA  AND  I.  135 

she  was  trained  by  her  parents  to  habits  of  indus- 
try in  the  ordinary  work  of  a  country  farmhouse, 
she  always  had  a  volume  convenient  to  read  in  all 
odd  moments.  She  made  good  use  of  Uncle 
Coe's  library,  containing  all  the  works  of  the 
standard  English  writers,  as  Milton,  Young,  Cow- 
per,  Addison,  Johnson,  etc. 

If  she  were  only  here  I  could  get  many  more 
facts.  I  only  give  such  as  I  came  into  the  knowl- 
edge of  from  observation,  or  incidentally  by  narra- 
tion from  others.  She  attended  Oberlin  one  year 
and  worked  for  her  board  in  the  boarding-hall. 
She  was  put  in  control  of  certain  duties,  as  she 
was  found  to  be  the  most  interested  in  seeing  that 
the  work  was  done. 

When  I  came  from  the  East,  being  then  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  I  first  became  acquainted  with 
her  as  a  woman.  She  was  the  most  intelligent, 
the  best  read,  the  most  attractive  of  any  of  my 
Western  cousins,  and  I  soon  found  Melissa's  so- 
ciety very  agreeable  and  intellectually  healthy. 
She  was  the  leading  soprano  singer  in  the  Kirtland 
Congregational  Church  and  the  leading  Sabbath- 
school  teacher;  she  could  get  up  a  celebration  at 
the  Kirtland  Seminary;  she  could  bring  the  sing- 
ers together  for  a  musicale  at  Uncle  Coe's,  with 
whom  she  was  a  great  favorite.  His  conversations 
with  her  were  as  with  his  equal  in  mental  force. 
No  one  could  talk  gossip  in  her  presence;  she 
would  deftly  turn  the  conversation.  Nor  could 
any  one  peaceably  lavish  compliments  upon  her, 


1 36  REMINISCENCES. 

though  she  confessed  she  was  extremely  eager  for 
the  good  opinion  of  all  the  good.  She  sometimes 
remarked  that  she  was  afraid  that  she  appeared 
too  forward  in  her  endeavors  to  do  good,  and  that 
she  would  gladly  follow,  as  she  frequently  did, 
when  any  one  else  would  lead. 

Now,  could  a  little  sickly  mortal,  paralyzed  with 
the  dyspepsia,  dependent  upon  relatives  and 
friends  for  a  subsistence;  could  such  a  victim  of 
sickness,  of  poverty,  with  no  prospect,  in  the  esti- 
mation of  his  friends,  look  on  such  a  personality 
with  any  other  feelings  or  expectations  than  re- 
spect and  admiration?  Besides,  she  was  a  great 
favorite  in  Akron,  Ohio,  where  she  spent  the  most 
of  two  years.  I  heard,  through  her  friends,  that 
she  had  had  several  offers  from  the  best  young 
men  of  that  thriving  town.  She  has  told  me  inci- 
dentally of  these  young  men,  of  her  growing  at- 
tachment for  one  of  them;  but  when  he  expressed 
in  her  presence,  not  a  disavowal  of  religious  belief, 
but  a  commonplace  sneer  at  some  church  usage, 
which  she  considered  scriptural  and  vital,  she  can- 
didly informed  him  that  her  views  and  his  of  re- 
ligion and  religious  sanctities  were  so  utterly  at 
variance  that  she  could  not  get  her  own  consent 
to  any  further  association  than  that  of  the  courte- 
sies of  members  of  the  same  young  society.  He 
made  every  necessary  and  possible  apology  and 
explanation,  but  she  could  not  condone. any  dis- 
respect for  that  which  was  of  all  things  the  most 
sacred  to  her. 


MELISSA  AND  I.  137 

Melissa  found  her  patience  and  Christian  charity 
most  tried  in  the  care  of  an  aunt  in  Akron.  For 
many  months  before  this  aunt's  death  Melissa 
took  the  place  of  a  nurse.  Her  exactions  in  her 
low  condition  were  often  most  trying,  but  Melissa 
waited  upon  her  with  the  greatest  sweetness  and 
patience,  notwithstanding  the  demands  and  com- 
plaints of  the  declining  woman.  After  her  aunt's 
death,  she  taught  in  Middleburg  for  a  season,  at 
the  same  time  boarding  in  Akron  at  a  cousin's. 
While  there  she  was  much  sought  after  as  a  lead- 
ing soprano  singer  in  all  the  churches.  I  think 
the  Episcopal  Church  offered  her  a  salary,  which 
she  did  not  accept,  but  continued  her  services  in 
the  Congregational  Church,  of  which  she  was  a 
member.  These  circumstances  occurred  in  the 
years  1838,  '39  and  '40. 

When  I  returned  from  Boonville,  Ind.,  where  I' 
had  passed  a  year  and  a  half,  arriving  at  Akron 
on  horseback  on  my  way  to  Kirtland,  and  coming 
up  the  street  toward  our  cousin's  residence,  the 
first  person  that  I  saw  was  Melissa,  looking  out  of 
a  chamber-window,  for  any  other  object  than  what 
she  saw.  Catherine  Smith,  another  cousin,  was 
with  her;  she  was  not  expecting  me,  though  she 
had  recently  come  from  Boonville.  Their  wel- 
come was  characteristic.  Catherine:  "Why,  Al- 
fred Holbrook,  I  should  as  soon  have  expected  to 
see  an  angel  from  heaven  as  you.  How  did  you 
get  here?"  Melissa  ran  down  to  meet  me  at  the 
door,  and  with  every  proper  demonstration  led 


138  REMINISCENCES. 

me  into  the  house,  and  drew  out  my  story. 
"Why  did  you  leave  Boonville  ?  How  long  have 
you  been  on  the  road  ?  How  did  you  think  you 
could  ride  so  far  in  such  poor  health?  Where  are 
you  going  now?  You  will  stay  with  us  to  re- 
cuperate? You  are  certainly  a  great  deal  better 
than  when  you  left  Kirtland.  Catherine  has  told 
me  how  miserable  you  were  in  Boonville,  how 
hard  you  tried  to  do  something  to  support  your- 
self; how  many  times  you  broke  down,  seemingly 
worse  than  ever."  To  all  these  interrogations  and 
exclamations,  I  made,  of  course,  fitting  replies. 
But  when  I  told  her  of  a  conversation  that  I  over- 
heard between  Catherine  and  Aunt  Mary,  whose 
guest  I  was,  and  had  been  for  three  years,  she 
burst  out,  "What  a  plucky  fellow."  The  con- 
versation that  I  overheard,  and  which  I  related  in 
the  presence  of  Cousin  Catherine,  was  substanti- 
ally as  follows  : 

I  had  been  out  surveying  for  Mr.  Spelman,  a 
couple  of  days.  The  line  between  his  farm  and  that 
of  Mr.  Clutter,  an  original  settler,  had  become  ob- 
literated. Mr.  Spelman,  one  of  our  Yankee  col- 
onists, was  convinced  that  the  dividing  fence  was 
far  within  and  upon  his  land,  as  originally  laid  out 
by  the  United  States  surveyors.  Mr.  Clutter 
would  listen  to  nothing  of  the  kind.  At  last,  how- 
ever, he  agreed  to  have  the  line  run,  and  said,  if 
it  -was  not  where  the  fence  was,  he  would  pay  the 
expense,  but  if  it  were,  Mr.  Spelman  should  foot 
the  bill.  It  was  necessary  to  go  back  some  five 


MELISSA  AND  I.  139 

miles  to  find  a  reliable  corner.  From  this  corner 
we  all  started,  a  company  of  a  dozen  men,  as 
several  others  were  interested  in  this  boundary 
line.  Pursuing  my  way  carefully  with  my  com- 
pass, it  was  soon  discovered  that  Mr.  Clutter  was 
badly  mistaken  in  the  location  of  the  fence.  As 
we  entered  his  farm,  the  line  that  I  was  following 
with  the  compass,  was  several  rods  within  Clut- 
ter's field,  as  bounded  by  the  fence.  Mr.  Clut- 
ter was-  very  much  excited,  and  swore  that  he 
would  not  give  up  five  or  ten  acres  of  his  best 
land,  even  though  he.  had  agreed  to  abide  by  my 
work  as  surveyor.  I  had  previously  gone  to  the 
county  records,  and  obtained  a  copy  of  the  plat 
of  the  line,  and  a  description  of  the  corner.  It 
was  originally  marked  by  three  trees,  a  black  wal- 
nut, two  feet  in  diameter,  a  sassafras,  twelve  inches, 
and  a  red  oak,  eighteen  inches  in  diameter.  On 
reaching  the  corner  with  my  chain,  and  taking  out 
my  notes  for  the  description  of  the  corner,  only 
one  tree  was  within  many  feet  of  my  corner,  as 
determined  by  the  survey,  that  was  a  red  oak,  in 
the  right  direction,  and  at  the  right  distance,  but 
more  than  three  feet  in  diameter.  I  asked  Mr. 
Spelman  to  cut  into  this  tree.  Mr.  Clutter  was 
wild  with  rage,  declaring  he  would  prosecute  us 
for  trespass,  etc.  Mr.  Spelman  very  calmly  cut 
away  for  a  while,  then  handed  the  axe  to  another 
man  interested  as  he  was  in  this  line.  At  length, 
after  cutting  nearly  to  the  heart  of  the  tree,  the 
original  blaze  was  found,  and  the  marks  agreeing 


I4O  REMINISCENCES. 

with  the  record.  A  general  hurrah  was  raised, 
especially  by  those  on  the  winning  side.  Mr. 
Clutter  and  others  who  were  the  losers,  were  glum 
enough,  but  gave  up  the  fight.  I  had  come  out 
within  four  inches  of  the  corner,  as  laid  down  in 
the  record.  He  paid  me  for  my  work  as  he  had 
agreed ;  Mr.  Spelman  gave  me  double  the  amount. 
It  was  after  such  a  two-days'  work,  walking 
through  woods  and  underbrush,  that  I  found  my- 
self prostrated,  and  glad  to  lie  abed.  And  now  the 
conversation  that  I  overheard  as  I  lay  in  an  adjoin- 
ing room,  with  the  door  ajar: 

Catherine.  — "  Alfred  is  down  again  worse  than 
ever.  I  am  afraid  he  will  not  live  long." 

Aunt  Mary.  —  "It  is  such  a  pity,  he  is  so  smart  and 
so  ambitious.  This  is  the  twentieth  time,  I  be- 
lieve, he  has  overworked  and  made  himself  sick." 

Catherine.  —  "I  should  think  he  would  learn  to 
hold  himself,  and  not  break  himself  down  so  often. " 

Aunt  Mary. — Why,  he  seems  to  be  so  anxious 
to  earn  something  to  support  himself,  and  not  be 
a  burden  on  anybody.  He  needn't  feel  that  he  is 
a  burden  to  us ;  we  would  rather  have  him  with  us 
than  not.  His  influence  with  the  children  is 
worth  a  great  deal;  I  should  hate  to  have  him 
leave  us,  but  I  ani  afraid  he  will  not  live  long ; 
every  time  he  breaks  down,  he  is  worse,  and  it 
takes  him  longer  to  get  up  again."  This  was  as 
much  as  I  could  stand.  I  rose  from  the  bed,  opened 
the  door,  and  said:  "Aunt  Mary,  I  am  much 
obliged  for  your  sympathy.  I've  heard  all  you  and 


MELISSA  AND  I.  14! 

Cousin  Catherine  have  said,  and  I  am  thankful  for 
all  your  patience  and  kindness ;  but  I  am  not  going 
to  be  gotten  rid  of  so  easily  as  you  seem  to  im- 
agine ;  I  expect  to  live  a  long  time  .yet,  and  I 
hope  some  time  or  other  to  be  able  to  repay  you 
or  your  children  for  all  you  are  doing  for  me. 
Why,  I  may  have  the  privilege  of  supporting  you 
in  your  old  age,  who  knows  ?  • 

Aunt  Mar)'-  — "Why,  Alfred,  that  is  just  like 
you,  I  am  sorry  you  overheard  us,  but  you  are  the 
most  hopeful  being  I  ever  saw." 

Alfred.  —  "Well,  Aunt,  faith,  hope  and  charity 
are  sisters  ;  I  have  the  faith  and  hope,  and  you 
have  the  charity,  the  greatest  of  them  all.  You 
are  to  me  the  very  personification  and  incarnation 
of  patience,  fortitude  and  goodness."  Years 
after,  when  Aunt  Mary  had  become  a  widow,  had 
lost  all  her  property,  and  was  dependent  on  a  son- 
in-law,  I  had  the  privilege  of  contributing  for 
several  years  to  her  support,  though  I  never  as- 
sumed it  entirely.  Thus,  in  a  small  measure,  my 
my  faith  and  hope,  dominant  in  all  my  helplessness, 
brought  compensation  for  Aunt  Mary's  charity, 
and  I  enjoyed  the  privilege  thankfully.  Melissa 
took  it  on  herself  to  convey  to  Aunt  Mary,  from 
time  to  time,  our  united  offering.  She  did  it  in 
her  own  sweet  way. 

Remaining  a  few  days  in  Akron,  I  proceeded  to 
Kirtland,  and  was  welcomed  again  by  Uncle  and 
Aunt  Coe — she  was  my  father's  sister.  Melissa 
"being  released  from  her  duties  in  Akron,  returned 


142  REMINISCENCES. 

also  to  her  home  in  Kirtland.  Melissa  and  I  were 
much  together  that  summer,  talking,  reading,  rid- 
ing, visiting.  Whether  she  ever  thought  I  would 
be  anybody's  husband,  or  not,  I  do  not  know;  I 
never  asked  her.  One  thing  I  do  know,  that  our 
cousinly  intercourse  contributed  much  to  the  im- 
provement of  my  health  and  spirits.  There  were 
few  days  that  we  were  not  together  most  of  the  time. 
In  my  growing  acquaintance  with  her,  she  re- 
vealed a  wide  intelligence,  a  true  Christian  culture, 
a  familiarity  with  all  the  standard  literature  of  the 
time,  an  ambition  to  do  something  and  be  some- 
thing far  beyond  the  plodding  of  other  good  and 
amiable  women.  Her  highly  cultivated  musical 
taste,  and  her  exquisite  execution  of  sacred  music, 
added  much  to  her  personal  attractions  and  her 
sweet  and  winning  ways.  In  all  these  respects, 
and  in  every  other,  she  came  nearer  to  my  ideal 
than  any  one  that  I  had  known  before.  But  what 
was  I  ?  A  little,  hopeless  and  helpless  invalid. 
She  afterward  quoted  a  reply  to  one  of  her  letters, 
in  which,  according  to  her,  I  said:  "Your  kind 
words  and  cousinly  affection,  so  sweetly  expressed, 
brought  up  all  the  blood  in  my  body,  to  make, 
if  possible,  a  blush,  in  revealing  to  myself  how 
dear  you  are  to  me." 

During  the  summer,  I  had  visited  Berea,  ex- 
pecting to  meet  my  father  there.  He  was  in  New 
York,  engaged  in  introducing  the  new  Berea  grind- 
stones to  the  national  market,  and  selling  stock  of 
the  proposed  Lyceum  village. 


MELISSA  AND  I.  143 

I  found  John  Baldwin  deeply  engaged  in  con- 
structing lathes,  and  adapting  them  to  his  water- 
power  on  Rocky  River  and  on  Mill  Creek.  He 
narrated  the  means  by  which  father  had  discovered 
the  value  of  the  Berea  grit,  and  the  prospect  thus 
of  paying  off  debts  contracted  in  the  support  of 
the  religious  community  which  they  had  suc- 
ceeded in  drawing  together,  a  large  part  of  whom, 
according  to  Baldwin,  were  ' '  too  religious  for  any 
earthly  use,  and  continued  so  as  long  as  bread  and 
butter  were  furnished  to  their  faith  and  devotion, 
by  his  works  and  credit." 

A  few  only  of  these  remained — those  too  sick 
or  too  worthless  to  get  away.  They  obtained  very 
meager  supplies  from  Baldwin,  and  erelong,  they 
had  all  disappeared,  finding  it  just  as  easy  to  work 
for  a  living  elsewhere  as  at  Berea. 

I  was  much  interested  in  Baldwin,  and  in  his 
peculiar  personal  appearance  and  habits,  his  sacri- 
fices to  what  he  considered  a  scriptural  plan  for  a 
Christian  living;  and  I  never  discovered  that  he 
changed  his  views,  of  having  all  things  in  com- 
mon, though  he  did  confess  that  they  ought  to 
have  had  more  vigorous  tests  in  examining  those 
whom  they  admitted  to  the  privileges  and  immu- 
nities of  the  community.  At  Baldwin's  solicita- 
tion, I  took  up  my  residence  in  Berea,  still 
expecting  father  to  join  me.  Not  feeling  able  to 
teach  six  hours  per  day,  I  agreed  to  commence  a 
school  for  the  children  of  Berea,  at  $15.00  per 
month,  teaching  three  hours  daily. 


144  REMINISCENCES. 

My  school  began  with  two  pupils  in  the  forenoon, 
with  an  increase  of  one  in  the  afternoon.  In  the 
course  of  two  weeks,  the  attendance  was  fifteen, 
all  the  children  of  Methodist  families. 

The  school-room  was  in  a  rickety,  unfinished, 
cheerless  building.  It  had  been  used  for  the  offices 
and  meetings  of  the  community,  now  disbanded. 
Soon  the  influx  of  laborers  and  families,  drawn  by 
the  new  industry,  made  it  necessary  to  put  up  a 
new  building  for  the  school.  It  was  of  two  stories, 
the  lower  being  used  for  a  store.  The  upper 
story  was  properly  furnished  with  seats,  desks  and 
apparatus,,  at  Mr.  Baldwin's  expense.  I  began 
my  second  term  in  the  new  building  with  thirty- 
five  pupils.  As  yet,  I  dared  teach  but  three  hours 
per  day.  Of  course,  help  was  needed,  and  brother 
Baldwin  agreed  to  pay  an  assistant  $25  a  month, 
leaving  the  selection  to  me. 

I  wrote  to  Melissa,  requesting  her  to  join  me  in 
the  Berea  School,  stating  the  conditions.  I  was 
receiving  $15  a  month  for  half  time,  she  would  be 
paid  $25  per  month  for  full  time. 

The  school  filled  up  rapidly.  We  organized 
classes  in  the  higher  branches,  including  the 
higher  mathematics  and  Latin. 

In  order  to  receive  Melissa  as  a  pupil  in  Latin, 
I  taught  the  fourth  hour,  the  recitation  being  be- 
fore breakfast.  She  had  studied  Latin  somewhat 
before,  but  encouraged  me  by  affirming,  after  a 
few  recitations,  that  all  the  time  and  effort  she 
had  spent  on  Latin  were  worse  than  wasted, 


MELISSA  AND  I.  145 

adding,  "It  was  the  only  study  that  I  ever  at- 
tempted that  I  did  not  enjoy;  I  had  only  learned 
to  hate  Latin ;  but  the  way  you  manage  the  sub- 
ject and  the  pupils  is  a  revelation  to  me.  There 
is  no  study  that  I  ever  enjoyed  so  much."  In 
fact,  she  rose  at  four  o'clock  to  get  out  her  Latin 
lessons.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  I  stud- 
ied in  the  same  room  with  her.  I  was  reading 
Bourdon's  Algebra  (a  new  book  to  me),  and  keep- 
ing ahead  of  my  class  in  that  subject. 

Now  my  readers  will  naturally  incline  to  the 
opinion  that  I  was  in  love  with  this  splendid 
cousin.  Well,  perhaps  so  ;  but  my  health  was  so 
precarious,  my  animal  vigor  so  low,  my  blood  so 
thin,  that  love  must  have  been  of  an  ethereal  mold 
— a  spiritual  afflatus,  far  removed  from  what  ordi- 
narily passes  under  that  name.  Melissa  had, 
from  the  first  renewal  of  my  acquaintance  with  her 
in  Ohio,  been  an  object  of  deep  interest,  of  in- 
creasing affection;  but  no  idea  of  marriage  had 
ever  intervened  as  desirable  or  possible  with  me, 
and  I  am  equally  sure  not  with  her. 

But,  as  we  lived  in  so  close  relations  in  our 
daily  work,  in  our  studies,  in  our  mutual  confi- 
dences, she  became,  as  it  were,  a  part  of  my  daily 
life,  and  the  greater  part  of  my  enjoyment. 

In  the  course  of  my  work,  in  trying  to  meet 
the  necessary  demands  of  my  pupils,  who  had 
commenced  coming  from  abroad,'  I  had  begun 
teaching  six  hours  a  day.  My  health  was  misera- 
ble ;  dyspepsia,  with  all  its  train,  preyed  upon  my 
10 


146  REMINISCENCES. 

energies  and  embittered  my  physical  existence. 
Melissa  was  accustomed  to  prepare  my  food.  For 
a  considerable  time  it  was  no  more  than  a  thin 
piece  of  corn  bread,  about  three  inches  square,  at 
each  meal. 

Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  now  unaccount- 
able to  me  how  I  could  have  worked  as  well  as  I 
did,  and  have  brought  a  continually  increasing 
attendance  from  parts  near  and  remotd ;  for  animal 
vigor,  as  well  as  a  cheerful  spirit,  is  essential,  or- 
dinarily, to  any  successful  teaching. 

Among  those  who  came  from  abroad  were  sev- 
eral Quaker  students  from  Marlboro,  Ohio:  the 
Wilemans,  Abram  and  Hannah;  Amos  Walton, 
Eugene  Pierce,  Augusta  Pratt  and  others.  They 
were  all  earnest  students,  devoted  friends,  and  are 
all  remembered  for  their  thousand  kindnesses, 
both  in  Berea  and  afterward  in  Marlboro,  with  the 
warmest  feelings  of  gratitude  and  affection.  I  se- 
cured the  aid  of  these  friends  at  different  times  in 
managing  my  classes,  or  other  exercises,  when  I 
was  too  much  exhausted  to  go  on  with  my  work. 
(It  was  through  the  solicitation  of  these  same 
friends  that  I  subsequently  went  to  Marlboro). 
Keeping  myself  in  an  exhausted  condition,  by 
trying  to  do  the  full  work  of  a  teacher,  with  not 
one-fifth  the  strength  that  health  would  have 
given,  it  is  a  marvel  now  how  it  was  done.  Un- 
doubtedly Melissa's  sympathy,  care  and  encour- 
agement may  account  for  it  in  some  measure ;  but 
divine  aid  was  daily,  hourly  sought,  and,  as  I  have 


MELISSA  AND  I.  147 

sufficient  reason  to  know,  were  vouchsafed.  At 
length  I  was  seized  with  a  severe  form  of  dysen- 
tery. For  a  day  or  two  the  disease  continued 
and  seemed  to  grow  worse;  whatever  little  blood 
I  had  in  me  was  fast  flowing  away.  A  physician 
was  called  by  my  anxious  friends.  He  prescribed 
rhubarb  powders,  as  he  called  them ;  what  else  I 
do  not  know;  but  they  had  little  effect,  unless  to 
increase  the  malady.  I  was  lifted  frequently  off 
and  on  the  bed ;  but,  as  I  was  placed  back,  per- 
haps for  the  fiftieth  time,  I  found  that  I  had  no 
vitality  left;  I  could  hardly  move  a  limb  or  bend  a 
finger.  I  concluded  death  was  near.  I  refused 
the  medicine  I  had  been  taking  every  fifteen  min_ 
utes  when  awake.  Abram  Wileman  was  watch- 
ing with  me.  When  I  refused  to  take  the  powders, 
he  urged  them  as  my  only  hope ;  I  still  refused ;  I 
could  not  talk.  He  left  the  room  in  alarm — it  was 
near  midnight — and  aroused  the  inmates  of  the 
house.  They  all  came  in  and  thought  I  was  de- 
lirious; the  doctor  was  sent  for  in  great  haste. 
He  soon  came,  and  feeling  my  pulse,  assured  me 
that,  unless  I  took  the  powders,  gangrene  would 
speedily  commence  in  my  bowels,  and  that  would 
be  fatal.  I  whispered,  "Let  me  die  in  peace." 
He  gave  me  up,  and  told  my  friends  that  I  could 
hardly  hold  out  till  morning. 

When  thus  I  ceased  to  be  disturbed  externally 
by  the  watchers 'and  internally  by  the  medicine, 
I  became  easier  and  fell  asleep.  Nothing  passed 
my  lips  for  three  days;  then  I  took  a  glass  of 


148  REMINISCENCES. 

water,  then  another.  On  the  fifth  day  I  walked 
across  the  room  and  ate  a  little  rice  which  Melissa 
had  prepared  for  me.  In  another  five  days  I  was 
in  charge  of  my  classes — a  wonder  to  my  friends 
and  an  astonishment  to  myself.  In  my  work 
I  recovered  speedily,  and  found  myself  gaining 
flesh,  in  consequence  of  restored  digestion;  and  if 
there  was  ever  anything  in  me  besides  will-power 
and  a  good  purpose,  it  was  when  I  discovered 
that  I  weighed  120  pounds — a  phenomenon  never 
occurring  before  or  since  in  my  career.  Now 
psychical  devotion  for  my  cousin  was  doubtless 
reinforced  by  physical  energy.  I  was  another  be- 
ing in  my  feelings,  in  my  work,  in  my  conversa- 
tion, and  especially  in  my  interest  in  my  cousin. 
Could  it  be  supposed  that  such  a  man  as  I  would 
have  dared  to  think  of — well,  of  addressing  such  a 
woman  as  I  well  knew  Melissa  to  be!  The  ven- 
ture was  made  with  many  a  doubt  and  more  fear. 
I  was  accepted.  I  hardly  believe^  that  she  could 
love  me.  I  had  thought  she  had  watched  over  me 
and  taken  care  of  me  in  my  long  good-for-nothing- 
ness,  as  I  had  known  her  to  do  for  others,  out  of 
the  natural  goodness  of  heart,  or  from  pure  Chris- 
tian benevolence ;  but  that  she  loved  me  was  more 
than  I  dared  to  hope.  In  talking  over  the  matter, 
when  we  had  come  to  an  understanding,  she  assured 
me  that  she  had  long  before  made  up  her  mind 
that,  if  she  could  not  marry  her  cousin  Alfred, 
she  would  never  marry  anybody  else;  she  would 
live  for  him,  and  for  him  alone.  My  protestations 


MELISSA  AND  I.  149 

\vere,  doubtless,  none  the  less  sincere  and  fervent. 

Our  engagement  being  known,  we  were  the 
subjects  of  much  more  interest  than  before,  per- 
haps. Melissa  was  a  great  favorite  with  all  the 
good  people  of  Berea,  as  she  had  been  everywhere 
else.  She  was  a  devoted  church  and  Sabbath- 
school  worker;  she  was  ready  in  every  case  of 
sickness  and  bereavement ;  she  was  a  kind  of  om- 
nipresence, as  she  always  was  wherever  sorrow 
called  for  sympathy,  sickness  for  watching,  or  dis- 
tress for  relief. 

We  were  ill-prepared  for  married  life,  in  any 
other  sense  than  that  I  needed  a  helpmeet,  just 
such  a  good  angel  as  Melissa  had  proven  herself 
to  be.  I  had  saved  nothing  from  my  meager  in-  / 
come,  always  giving  to  the  Church  and  other 'v 
benevolences  more  than  I  had  earned.  In  looking 
over  my  finances,  I  found  that,  if  my  debts  were 
paid,  I  should  then  be  $20  in  debt ;  but,  however, 
Melissa  was  not  exactly  in  the  same  condition,  for 
she  had,  in  her  own  right  and  at  her  control,  about 
$12  the  day  that  we  were  married.  In  fact,  I  had 
to  take  four  dollars  from  her  funds  to  pay  our  mar- 
riage fee.  The  minister,  Uncle  Coe,  handed  the 
money  back  immediately  to  her,  though  he  had 
come  forty  miles  to  marry  us  at  his  own  expense. 

Melissa,  at  this  time  about  twenty-four  years  of 
age,  was  to  me  a  most  lovely  woman.  Her  height 
was  just  about  the  same  as  mine  (she  had  a  way 
of  making  herself  shorter  when  we  stood  together) ; 
her  figure  was  lithe  and  graceful;  her  motions 


I5O  REMINISCENCES. 

were  light,  easy  and  rapid ;  her  features  were  reg- 
ular and  classic;  her  eyes  were  blue,  gentle  and 
winning;  her  expression  was  ordinarily  sedate  and 
self-possessed :  when  interested  or  excited,  glowing 
with  such  emotion  or  fancy  as  possessed  her  at 
the  moment.     In   her  conversational  ability  she 
was  far  superior  to  most  intelligent  society  women ; 
her  powers  of  description,  narrative  and  mimicry 
were  seldom  equaled ;  her  vocabulary  was  exten- 
sive and  always  equal  to  the  occasion ;  her  selec- 
tion   of    words    was    spontaneously   refined    and 
exquisite ;  her  sympathy  with  all  who  came  near 
her,  and  her  interest  in  their  well-being,  were  an  un- 
bounded and  perpetual  flow,  always  engaging  and 
winning  by  their  sincerity  and  sweetness.    Though 
never  aggressive  in  society,  she  was  always  ac- 
cepted as  a  leading  spirit  in  every  good  enterprise ; 
her  counsel  was  always  sought  and  her  adminis- 
trative ability  always  recognized.     In  after  life  her 
efforts  in  public  speaking,  especially  in  addressing 
our    large    body    of   students,    were   impressive, 
sometimes  affecting,  and  were  always  sought  for; 
and  when  her  person  graced  our  rostrum,   were 
always  spoken  of  with  appreciation  and  admira- 
tion.     Her  work  in  private  with  students,  whether 
sick   or  well,    was   always  kindly,    thankfully   re- 
ceived.     Her  ministrations  to  the  sick,  bereaved 
and  desolate,  especially  of  the  poor,  can  but  be 
remembered   by  hundreds  with  benedictions  on 
her  memory. 

But  her  full  power  to  yield  blessings  and  happi- 


MELISSA  AND  I.  151 

ness  are  only  known  to  her  servants,  her  children 
and  her  husband.  No  devotion  could  be  more 
unselfish;  no  sacrifice  more  exhausting;  no  influ- 
ence more  pure ;  no  affection  could  be  more  sweet, 
warm,  charming,  than  that  bestowed,  as  an  ever- 
flowing  stream,  upon  the  special  objects — her 
home-ties  and  duties^  She  always  declared  if  there 
were  any  excellencies  in  her  character  and  conduct, 
they  were  all  of  grace,  and  all  the  result  of  her  trust 
in  the  love  and  mercy  of  her  Redeemer.  "I  feel 
that  I  ought  to  do  what  little  I  can  for  him  in  his 
creatures,  who  has  done  so  much  for  me,"  was  her 
not  infrequent  expression. 

I  have  said  that,  being  cousins,  there  was,  or 
seemed  to  be,  a  very  general  disposition  among 
our  friends  to  question  the  propriety  of  our  mar- 
riage. We,  of  course,  talked  the  matter  over,  and 
each  came  to  the  conclusion  that  we  were  de- 
signed for  each  other,  and  that  this  one  match  had 
been  made  in  heaven;  at  any  rate  neither  of  us 
would  be  worth  much  without  the  other.  This 
was  surely  true  so  far  as  I  was  concerned. 

While  I  do  not  by  any  means  advise  cousins  to 
marry,  I  never  regretted  the  transaction ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  feel  now  as  I  always  felt,  that 
Melissa  was  the  one  woman  of  all  others  that  the 
good  Lord  had  made,  trained  and  fully  endowed 
with  all  the  necessary  forces  and  graces  to  com- 
pensate for  my  deficiencies — to  stimulate,  beautify 
and  sanctify  my  life.  I  have  never  felt  otherwise. 

After  boarding  a  week  or  two,  we  set  up  house- 


152  REMINISCENCES. 

keeping  in  the  rooms  that  we  had  occupied  before 
marriage,  save  that  they  were  one  less  in  number. 
We  were  adding  three  rooms  to  the  house  Brother 
Baldwin  had  given  us.  Our  outfit  for  housekeep- 
ing was,  as  nearly  as  I  can  remember,  an  air-tight 
Stove,  three  chairs  (one  a  rocker),  a  deal  table, 
washstand,  bowl  and  ewer,  a  bedstead  and  bed- 
ding, a  looking-glass,  all  borrowed;  also  three 
plates,  two  bowls,  three  knives  and  forks,  three 
spoons,  three  larger  dishes,  two  pitchers,  a  tin 
pan,  two  tin  cups,  obtained  on  credit  from  the 
store  under  our  schoolroom.  We  were  married 
on  Sabbath,  so  we  lost  no  time  from  our  regular 
school  work.  Of  one  thing  I  am  confident,  that 
never  young  couple  began  life  more  thankfully; 
with  less  anxiety  as  to  the  future,  or  with  more 
entire  confidence  in  each  other.  We  had  tried 
each  other,  and  each  had  seen  the  other  tried  as 
no  others  had  been,  at  least,  within  our  know- 
ledge. 

When  in  after  years  Melissa  was  alluding  to  one 
of  several  offers  she  had  refused,  and  stating  the 
reason  why,  Tasked:  "Then  why  didn't  you  re- 
fuse me?  I  wasn't  the  hundredth  part  as  good  a 
catch  as  any  of  those  fellows.  They  are  all  now 
rich  and  getting  richer."  She  replied:  "Well, 
now,  wouldn't  you  like  to  know?  I  won't  tell 
you ;  but  I  will  say  that  I  never  found  a  man  be- 
fore whom  I  dared  to  trust  with  my  destiny  and 
happiness."  We  commenced  family  worship,  al- 
ternating daily  in  leading  the  worship — a  practice 


MELISSA  AND  I.  153 

which  we  continued  as  long  as  I  felt  it  prudent  to 
ask  her:  "  Mother,  will  you  pray  with  us?"  Her 
prayers  were  always  an  inspiration  to  me,  as  her 
presence  was  joy  and  peace.  It  is  chiefly  through 
her  gentle,  kindly,  motherly  influence  that  my 
children  are  a  great  help  and  comfort  to  me,  and, 
as  I  can  thankfully  and  truly  feel,  a  blessing  to 
the  world. 

When  Brother  Clayton  came  among  us  as  pas- 
tor of  our  M.  E.  Church,  and  became  acquainted 
with  our  school  work  in  all  its  variety,  extent  -and 
' '  power  for  good, "  as  he  expressed  it,  he  said  to  me 
one  day,  * '  This  is  all  a  mystery,  how  such  an  in- 
stitution could  have  grown  up  here,  with  no  support 
from  any  Church ;  with  no  endowment  or  appro- 
priation from  the  State;  but  when  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  your  praying  wife,  and  discovered 
her  power  with  the  Source  of  all  power,  the  mys- 
tery was  explained."  The  life  of  every  mother  is 
one  of  continued  sacrifice  at  the  best,  but  that  of 
Melissa,  above  all  others,  in  that  in  the  infancy 
and  childhood  of  all  our  children,  she  spared  no 
effort  or  self-denial  to  leave  me  free  for  my  school 
work.  She  felt  that  my  sleep  must  be  disturbed 
as  little  as  possible,  in  order  that  I  could  be  at 
my  best  with  my  classes;  and  so  of  all  other 
family  cares  and  labors — they  were  assumed  and 
carried  with  a  devotion  and  martyrdom  that  few, 
even  of  mothers,  can  measure  or  understand. 

But  not  in  her  family  only — for  her  husband 
and  for  her  children — were  her  powers  of  endur- 


154  REMINISCENCES. 

ance  and  of  charity  taxed ;  until  the  last  five  years 
of  her  life  she  was  the  matron  of  the  institution, 
having  a  motherly  care  over  all  the  young  ladies 
in  attendance,  and  personally  watching  with  the 
sick  or  providing  them  with  nurses  and  every  at- 
tention possible  for  their  well-being.  Indeed  her 
husband  and  children  feel  that  it  was  this  extra- 
ordinary exertion,  and  these  continued  and  ex- 
hausting efforts  for  sick  students,  that  brought  her 
to  her  grave  many  years  sooner  than  would  other- 
wise have  been  the  case. 

Her  sympathy  for  the  sick  was  not  confined  to 
the  school,  but  had  become  a  proverb  in  Lebanon: 
"The  only  way  to  have  a  call  from  Mrs.  Holbrook 
is  for  some  one  in  the  house  to  get  sick,  then  she 
will  come  without  being  invited  or  sent  for." 

In  many  a  financial  extremity,  when  she  would, 
as  it  were,  instinctively  divine  the  difficulty,  the 
consolation  and  support  offered  was,  ' '  Well,  hus- 
band, I  can  do  nothing  but  pray  for  you ;  but  if  I 
am  weak,  my  Lord  is  mighty,  and  he  will  de- 
liver you  ;  I  know  he  will." 

It  was  Melissa  that  suggested  and  initiated  the 
daily  students'  prayer-meeting.  It  was  a  matter 
of  unceasing  interest  to  her,  and  she  not  infre- 
quently gave  it  her  presence  and  her  counsels, 
which  the  students  were  ever  most  eager  to  re- 
ceive and  to  follow. 

It  was  her  suggestion  that  a  contribution  be 
taken  up  semi-weekly  for  missionary  purposes. 
The  prayer-meeting  made  her  the  almoner  of  these 


MELISSA  AND  I.  155 

funds  so  raised.  Seldom  less  than  fifty  dollars  a 
year  passed  through  her  hands,  for  which  she  al- 
ways presented  her  vouchers  to  the  committee 
appointed  by  the  prayer-meeting  to  record  them. 

Melissa  was  a  stern  patriot.  She  sent  her  two 
oldest  boys  into  the  army  at  the  first  call  for 
75,000,  the  oldest  then  only  seventeen.  The 
third  was  sent  two  years  afterward,  he  being  then 
only  fifteen.  She  kept  up  constant  communica- 
tion with  her  boys,  her  daily  and  constant  prayers 
following  them.  While  she  felt  her  country's 
need,  she  had,  more  than  most  mothers,  a  confi- 
dence that  her  sons  would  act  a  brave  and  honor- 
able part  in  every  time  of  danger  and  of  trial.  She 
treasured  to  her  death  their  letters  from  all  parts 
of  the  South  where  their  country's  emergencies 
took  them.  There  was  scarcely  an '  important 
battle,  East  or  West,  in  which  one  of  them  was  not 
present  and  engaged. 

They  all  returned  in  due  time,  without  a  wound 
or  a  scratch,  though  the  oldest  had  a  ball-hole 
through  his  coat.  The  youngest,  John,  went 
round  with  Sherman  in  his  march  to  the  sea.  In 
his  first  experience  he  was  taken  prisoner  at  Har- 
per's Ferry,  but  immediately  paroled;  so  that 
none  of  the  three  suffered  the  terrible  fate  of  the 
thousands  who  were  starved  in  the  Southern 
prisons. 

On  one  occasion  during  the  war,  when  a  North- 
ern man  had  come  from  the  rebel  army,  in  which 
he  had  enlisted,  and  had  been  received  by  his  rela- 


156  REMINISCENCES. 

tives  in  Lebanon,  though  the  general  opinion  was 
that  he  was  really  a  spy,  or  a  Southern  emissary 
of  some  kind,  Melissa  declared  that  she  would 
not  have  such  a  man  in  her  house.  "But," 
said  I,  "be  careful,  wife;  perhaps  your  brothers 
(she  had  two  brothers  in  Tennessee,  extensive  land 
and  slave-owners)  will  come  to  see  us,  and  you 
don't  know  but  that  they  are  both  rebels. "  ' '  They 
are  no  rebels;  but  if  they  are,  they  needn't  come 
here;  I  don't  want  to  see  them."  The  Northern 
lines  having  soon  after  passed  Ripley,  Tenn. ,  where 
these  brothers  were  living,  one  of  them  knocked 
at  our  door  one  day.  Melissa  went  to  the  door. 
"Why,  Josiah,  is  that  you?  Are  you  a  Union 
man?"  not  offering  her  hand.  He  demurred  some- 
what at  such  an  unexpected  reception  from  his 
gentle  sister,  and  replied:  "Well,  what  if  I'm 
not?"  "Then  I  don't  want  any  Northern  rebels 
in  my  house — not  even  my  brother."  "Well, 
I'm  all  right,  sister.  I  have  escaped  the  Southern 
service  only  at  the  risk  of  my  life  a  hundred 
times."  "Come  in.  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you.  I 
knew  you  and  John  would  both  prove  true  men." 
Her  personal  animosity  to  rebels  was  confined 
to  Northern  men,  however.  We  had,  all  during 
the  war,  more  or  less  Southern  students  in  school, 
many  of  whom  were  outspoken  rebels.  They  re- 
ceived just  as  much  care  and  sympathy  in  sick- 
ness, and,  perhaps,  more  consideration,  generally, 
than  Northern  students.  She  sometimes  re- 
marked: "If  I  had  been  born  and  educated  in 


MELISSA  AND  I. 

the  South,  doubtless  I  should  have  been  among 
the  bitterest  of  the  rebels." 

One  of  our  teachers,  Mrs.  Roberts,  was  a  South- 
ern lady.  She  had  three  brothers  in  the  Southern 
army  and  four  brothers,  or  brothers-in-law,  in  the 
Federal  ranks. 

When  the  war  closed,  or  rather,  when  Rich- 
mond was  taken,  one  of  her  brothers,  who  had 
been  a  body-guard  to  Jeff.  Davis,  made,  his  ap- 
pearance at  our  house,  where  she  was  boarding. 
She  did  not  hesitate  to  inform  us  who  he  was, 
where  he  had  come  from  and  all  other  particulars. 
We  received  him,  but  felt  it  prudent  to  conceal 
him,  or  at  least,  not  to  let  it  be  known  who  he 
was.  He  remained  with  us  three  days,  and  was 
safely  housed  and  hospitably  entertained. 

I  relate  this  circumstance  to  show  that  Melissa's 
charity  was  of  no  narrow  quality.  It  was,  on  the 
other  hand,  of  the  most  considerate  and  far-reach- 
ing character,  winning  the  confidence  of  her  coun- 
try's foes  even. 

She  did  not  go  as  far  as  one  mother  that  I  heard 
make  a  short  speech  during  the  war.  Said  she: 
"I  have  sent  seven  sons  into  the  army;  my  only 
regret  is  that  I  haven't  seven  more  to  send  with 
them." 

But  Melissa  gave  her  sons  prayerfully  and 
thankfully,  saying,  as  one  after  another  left  us,  ' '  I 
may  never  see  this  boy  again ;  he  is  a  free  gift  to 
my  country.  No  sacrifice  is  too  dear  for  my 
country's  liberties." 


158  REMINISCENCES. 

Her  boys  all  returned,  and  not  one  of  them  was 
charged  with  dishonorable  conduct,  that  she  or  I 
ever  heard  of,  during  the  war,  though  they,  one  or 
the  other,  were  in  all  the  great  battles  of  the  Rebel- 
lion, and  altogether  they  were  in  the  service  nine 
years.  Were  their  mother's  prayers  their  panoply  ? 

Melissa's  correspondence  was  extensive,  and 
continued  to  within  a  few  weeks  of  her  death.  It 
was  chiefly,  beyond  that  with  her  own  immediate 
relatives,  confined  to  letters  of  sympathy  and  con- 
dolence, or  to  special  cases  when  she  thought  a 
word  of  counsel  and  encouragement  would  be 
well  received  and  do  good.  No  case  was  so  hard 
and  hopeless  among  the  young  men  of  Lebanon 
but  that  she  would  venture  a  letter  of  kindness, 
admonition  and  encouragement;  and  often  I  have 
read  letters  from  such  "hard  cases" — replies  to 
hers — which  evidenced  the  fact  that  no  man  can 
be  so  debased  but  that  there  is  humanity  in  him 
that  can  be  reached. 

Letters  from  the  leading  thinkers  of  the  times 
are  found  in  her  desk  in  reply  to  something 
from  her,  though  it  wai)  her  practice  in  all  such 
cases  to  state  that  she  die!  not  expect  a  reply;  she 
only  wished  to  give  her  word  of  approval  "  to  the 
manly  course,"  "the  outspoken  sentiment  so 
needed  by  the  times."  The  most  of  such  letters 
were  written  without  the  knowledge  of  her  hus- 
band, but  the  returns  always  came  to  my  knowl- 
edge and  appreciation.  Truly,  "she  did  what 
she  could."  Her  last  words  to  her  husband  were, 


MELISSA  AND  I.  159 

" Husband,  I  shall  be  at  home  before  to-morrow." 
Her  earthly  home  had  been  made,  by  her  gentle 
presence,  her  sweet  influence,  unswerving  integ- 
rity, her  loving  counsel,  her  affectionate  ministra- 
tions, her  superhuman  devotion  to  the  comfort 
and  happiness  of  her  husband,  children  and  ser- 
vants, as  near  a  heaven  as  is  ever  enjoyed  on 
earth.  Her  heavenly  home,  doubtless,  will  be  the 
theater  of  larger  and  sweeter  activities. 

The  words  of  King  Lemuel  were  never  more 
fitting:  "Her  children  arise  up  and  call  her 
blessed;  her  husband  also,  and  he  praiseth  her. 
Many  daughters  have  done  virtuously,  but  thou 
excellest  them  all." 


CHAPTER  IX. 


A  REMINISCENCE  IN  BEREA. 

IN  1847,  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  the  first 
Institutes  were  held  in  Ohio.  One  was  conducted 
by  Marcellus  Cowdry  and  Horace  Benton  in  Nor-, 
walk ;  another  by  Thomas  W.  Harvey  in  Chardon, 
and  a  third  in  Berea  by  myself.  All  were  held  in 
the  month  of  August.  The  new  brick  building- 
having  just  been  completed,  with  a  chapel  to 
hold  300,  -it  was  a  fitting  opportunity,  as  I 
conceived,  to  initiate  these  new  accommoda- 
tions with  a  Teachers'  Institute.  I  expected  to 
conduct  most  of  the  exercises  myself,  but  had 
also  engaged  Professor  Hamilton  L.  Smith,  of 
Cleveland,  and  my  uncle,  Truman  Coe,  of  Kirt- 
land,  to  assist  me  in  lecturing  on  natural  sciences. 

Professor  Smith  had  already  acquired  a  reputa- 
tion by  lecturing,  and  also  by  having  written  a 
volume,  and  was,  as  I  supposed,  the  very  man  I 
needed  to  carry  through  a  course  of  lectures  on 
electricity  and  mechanics.  He  commenced  his 
course  in  due  time,  and  such  was  the  profundity 
and  erudition  displayed  in  his  first  lecture,  that  no- 
body but  Uncle  Coe  and  myself  were  able  to  un- 
(160) 


A  REMINISCENCE  IN  BEREA.  l6l 

derstand  or  be  interested  in  his  remarks.  The 
rest  of  his  audience  were  teachers  who  were  yet 
scarcely  familiar  with  the  most  simple  and  funda- 
mental principles  of  these  departments  of  science. 
At  the  close  of  the  lecture,  I  congratulated  the 
professor  upon  the  originality  and  profundity  of 
his  presentation  of  his  subject,  but  tried  to  apprize 
him,  as  well  as  I  was  able,  of  the  fact  that  such  a 
course  of  lectures  would  be  utterly  useless  to 
those  whom  he  was  employed  to  instruct.  He 
seemed  to  realize  the  fact  as  I  presented  it;  but, 
as  his  entire  line  of  procedure  had  been  prepared 
for  a  body  of  learned  and  practical  scientists,  his 
second  lecture  was  not  unlike  his  first,  but  rather 
more  recondite  and  far-reaching.  I  found  I  had 
an  elephant  on  my  hands,  and  was  much  relieved 
when  he  received  word  of  sickness  in  his  family 
and  begged  to  be  excused  from  the  remaining  lec- 
tures of  his  course.  This  procedure  only  illus- 
trated to  me  the  better  a  fact  which  I  had  long- 
dwelt  upon,  that  erudition  is  very  likely  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  successful  elementary  teaching.  The 
presentation  of  rare  and  peculiar  phenomena,  with 
their  explanations,  and  illustrations,  is  but  a 
waste  of  time  for  those  who  are  not  familiar  with 
first  principles.  By  this  I  do  not  intend  to  say 
that  a  man  or  woman  can  ever  know  too  much  ta 
teach  any  class  of  pupils  on  any  subject,  even  A, 
B,  C ;  but  it  is  rather  difficult  for  those  who  have 
been  engaged  for  years  after  they  have  passed  the 

fundamental    principles,    and    have    spent    time, 
ii 


162  REMINISCENCES. 

money  and  labor  in  original  investigation,  to  come 
back  again  to  the  simple  and  general  principles  of 
a  science ;  in  other  words,  adaptation  to  the  class 
of  pupils  and  to  the  circumstances  is  one  of  the  es- 
sential characteristics  of  a  wide-awake  and  success- 
ful teacher. 

'Uncle  Coe  and  I  followed  the  plan  of  instruction 
I  had  laid  out  and  advertised.  Our  Institute  was 
a  great  success,  and  aided  very  much  in  bringing 
the  school  into  repute  and  filling  up  our  accom- 
modations next  year. 

While  Uncle  Coe  was  with  me,  spending  these 
two  or  three  weeks,  his  brother,  Daniel  Coe,  came 
from  New  England — from  the  old  homestead 
which  Truman,  the  younger  brother,  had  sold  to 
him  when  he  left  Derby — to  visit  his  brother  in 
Kirtland.  Not  finding  him  in  Kirtland,  he  came 
to  Berea,  where  we,  Melissa  and  I,  made  arrange- 
ments to  entertain  him,  as  well  as  we  were  able, 
in  our  own  family.  Before  I  go  further  with  my 
story,  it  will  be  necessary  to  go  back  three  or  four 
years  and  narrate  a  circumstance  connected  with 
the  Coe  family.  Uncle  Truman's  oldest  son, 
Milton,  had,  after  pursuing  a  college  course,  gone 
to  Derby,  expecting  to  spend  the  winter  in  his 
uncle's  family,  and,  if  possible,  to  obtain  business. 
He  had  hoped  that,  if  he  could  do  nothing  better, 
he  could  obtain  a  school  and  teach  in  Derby;  or 
its  vicinity,  six  months  or  more ;  but  he  had  no 
other  expectation  than  of  making  his  headquarters 
at  his  uncle's  home — the  place  which  had  formerly 


A  REMINISCENCE  IN  BEREA.  163 

been  his  home.  He  arrived  there  Saturday,  re- 
maining with  them  over  Sabbath.  On  Monday 
morning  his  uncle  informed  him  that  he  had  se- 
cured a  very  comfortable  and  cheap  boarding- 
place  for  him  in  the  town,  about  half  a  mile  distant. 
Milton  hardly  knew  what  to  say  or  how  to  manage 
the  matter.  He  had  no  means  ot  paying  his 
board  for  any  length  of  time,  and  from  what  his 
uncle  said  he  found  that  he  did  not  expect  to  pay 
it  for  him,  so  that  he  was  compelled  to  go  to 
other  relatives  until  he  could  secure  an  income  of 
some  kind.  His  uncle,  however,  very  kindly  told 
him  that  whenever  he  felt  disposed  he  would  like 
to  have  him  call  and  see  him.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  Milton  ftever  called  at  his 
uncle's  after  that.  It  was  a  different  kind  of  hospi- 
tality from  that  which  had  always  been  exhibited  in 
his  Kirtland  home  toward  all  his  father's  and  moth- 
er's relatives,  and,  indeed,  to  almost  everybody 
else. 

Now,  when  Daniel  Coe,  who  was  a  Methodist 
local  preacher,  found  that  he  was  to  be  entertained 
at  my  house  for  two  or  three  weeks,  he  expressed 
his  extreme  reluctance  to  accept  of  such  hospital- 
ity, and  urged  me  very  seriously  and  earnestly  to 
accept  of  pay  for  his  board,  all  of  which,  under 
the  .circumstances,  was  somewhat  trying  and 
somewhat  amusing.  After  he  had  spent  the  night 
with  me,  however,  he  was  invited  by  three  differ- 
ent families  to  come  and  spend  the  entire  time 
with  them.  He  hardly  knew  what  to  do,  or  how 


164  REMINISCENCES. 

to  explain  it,  or  what  interpretation  to  put  upon 
it.  It  was  so  entirely  different  from  anything  that 
he  had  ever  seen  or  experienced,  or  had  ever  prac- 
ticed himself.  There  was  no  end  to  his  varied 
expressions  of  appreciation  and  amazement,  that 
a  perfect  stranger  should  be  made  the  object 
of  such  unbounded  and  unrecompensed  hos- 
pitality. I  relate  this  circumstance  to  illus- 
trate the  difference  between  Eastern  and  Western 
hospitality,  as  I  have  witnessed  and  experi- 
enced both  in  different  times  and  places,  East 
and  West.  By  this  I  do  not  intend  to  imply 
that  all  my  friends  and  relatives  in  the  East  are 
of  the  character  of  Daniel  Coe.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  are  as  boundless  and  unremitting  in 
their  attentions  to  their  Western  cousins  as  could 
possibly  be  desired,  and  are  most  thoroughly  ap- 
preciated; nor  do  I  intend  to  say  that  all  Western 
people  are  lavish,  by  any  means,  in  their  gifts  and 
graces,  in  entertaining  either  friends  or  strangers. 
So  far,  however,  as  Melissa  and  I  were  concerned, 
we  had  both  of  us  from  childhood  and  youth  been 
too  often  the  recipients  of  this  kind  of  unpaid 
kindness,  not  to  feel  it  a  privilege  at  all  times  to 
entertain  friends  and  strangers  as  best  we  were 
able.  Melissa  had  a  "Prophet's  Chamber"  in 
her  house,  always  in  readiness  to  entertain  the 
preacher,  the  missionary,  or  the  agent  in  any 
good  cause. 


CHAPTER  X. 


SOME   EXPERIENCES  WITH  JOHN  BALDWIN. 

Mr.  John  Baldwin  in  1839  had  freed  himself 
from  a  Methodist  religious  community  in  Berea, 
O.  He  had  disengaged  himself  from  his  partners 
by  assuming  the  financial  responsibility  of  the 
community.  In  this  community  there  had  been  a 
collection  of  several  hundred  people  of  deep  re- 
ligious convictions,  but  of  utter  incapacity  for  busi- 
ness. Mr.  Baldwin  had  become  convinced  that, 
whatever  were  his  religious  views  in  regard  to  hav- 
ing all  things  in  common,  it  was  impracticable 
with  such  a  class  of  men  and  women  as  had  col- 
lected there.  Hundreds  of  acres  of  valuable  land, 
which  he  had  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  community, 
had  proved  insufficient  to  furnish  food  even,  and 
in  order  to  save  the  company  from  bankruptcy, 
he  had  found  it  necessary  to  assume  all  the  debts 
and  liabilities  of  those  who  had  been  looking  to 
him  for  support. 

About  this  time,  through  H.-  O.  Sheldon,  he  be- 
came acquainted  with  my  father's  plan  of  a  Lyceum 
village,  and  invited  him  to  Berea  to  establish  his 
Lyceum  village  in  that  place.  Burdened  with  debt 


166  REMINISCENCES. 

as  he  was,  Mr.  Baldwin,  still  feeling  that  he  should 
use  himself  and  his  property  for  a  higher  end  than 
the  mere  accumulation  of  wealth,  thought  my 
father's  plan  of  a  Lyceum  village  would  be  feasi- 
ble and  desirable.  On  the  arrival  of  my  father  at 
Berea,  from  New  York  City,  the  first  work  in  hand 
was  to  lay  out  the  proposed  Lyceum  village,  in 
streets  and  squares,  on  the  property  Mr.  Baldwin 
had  used  for  the  community.  After  a  forenoon 
had  been  spent  in  running  lines  with  the  compass, 
and  the  party  had  partaken  of  dinner,  father  sug- 
gested to  Mr.  Baldwin,  since  they  had  been  de- 
layed in  their  work  by  a  dull  axe,  in  sharpening 
the  corner  stakes,  that  they  should  go  out  and 
grind  the  axe.  Mr.  Baldwin  proposed  to  turn  the 
grindstone  while  father  held  the  axe.  Grinding 
and  talking  for  some  little  time  father  failed  to  look 
at  the  axe.  In  turning  it  over  to  examine  it,  he 
was  astonished  to  find  what  an  amount  of  steel 
had  been  ground  away.  Said  he  :  ' '  Brother  Bald- 
win, where  did  you  get  this  grindstone  ?"  "  Down 
in  the  creek  below  here."  "In  the  creek  be- 
low here  ?"  ''Yes,  the  whole  country  is  based 
on  this  kind  of  grit."  "Is  that  so  ?  You  have  a 
fortune  more  substantial  than  the  Bank  of  England 
underlying  your  possessions."  This  was  the  dis- 
covery of  the  famous  Berea  grindstone  grit.  Mr. 
Baldwin  immediately  proceeded  to  rig  lathes,  ap- 
,  ply  water-power,  and  turned  out  grindstones  by 
the  hundred.  My  father  had  always  been  accus- 
tomed to  the  blue-grit  of  Nova  Scotia  for  grind- 


SOME  EXPERIENCES  WITH  JOHN  BALDWIN.       l6/ 

stones.  He  affirmed  that  this  grit  was  as  much 
sharper  than  the  blue-grit  of  Nova  Scotia,  as  that 
was  sharper  than  any  common  bowlder  by  the 
roadside.  A  market  was  at  once  opened  in  New 
York  for^the  Berea  grindstones.  They  displaced  all 
others,  and  I  suppose  millions  have  been  realized 
from  that  quarry,  a  large  proportion  of  which  Mr. 
Baldwin  gave  the  institution  of  which  he  was  the 
founder. 

After  paying  off  the  debts  of  the  community, 
Mr.'  Baldwin  went  into  various  expenditures  for 
the  benefit  of  education,  among  which  was  the 
erection  of  a  large  three-story  building  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  school  which  I  had  begun 
with  two  pupils,  and  of  which  I  was  still  in  charge. 
It  had  by  this  time  increased  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pupils. 

Mr.  Baldwin  persistently  held  to  the  theory  that 
young  men  and  women  could  support  themselves 
at  the  same  time  that  they  were  pursuing  an  edu- 
cation. Notwithstanding  every  pupil  he  tried  to 
educate  in  this  way  cost  him  more^or  less  out  of 
pocket,  yet  he  never  gave  up  the  idea  that  there 
might  yet  be  found  some  who  could  support  them- 
selves in  this  way.  He  furnished  me  every  desired 
facility  in  building  up  a  school.  For  example,  on 
my  wedding  day  he  presented  me  with  a  deed  to  a 
house  and  lot  for  my  immediate  occupancy.  Being 
himself  a  devoted  Christian,  and  earnest  Meth- 
odist, he  concluded  to  make  the  school  a  Meth- 
odist Institution,  and  place  it  under  Conference 


1 68  REMINISCENCES. 

management.  He  had  some  difficulty  in  obtaining 
acceptance  of  the  property,  which  has  since  proved 
to  be  worth  not  less  than  half  a  million  of  dollars. 
The  Conference  consented,  at  last,  to  receive  the 
property,  provided  Brother  Baldwin  would  raise 
two  thousand  dollars  for  apparatus  and  other  facil- 
ties  for  the  Conference  School.  He  complied 
with  the  condition  and  paid  the  money  himself. 

When  this  school,  which  I  had  originated  and 
built  up,  with  Brother  Baldwin's  financial  help, 
had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Methodist  Con- 
ference, I  was  urged  to  become  a  preacher,  from 
the  usage  of  having  preachers  at  the  head  of 
Methodist  institutions.  I  declined,  saying  that  I 
was  not  a  preacher,  nor  had  the  Lord  called  me  to 
serve  him  in  that  manner.  I  was  a  teacher,  and 
would  serve  the  Conference  in  that  capacity  and  in 
that  only.  The  result  was,  that  several  preachers 
were  placed  over  this  Institution,  among  whom 
was  Dr.  Warner,  afterward  chaplain  of  the  Ohio 
Penitentiary.  He  was  a  most  eloquent  preacher, 
an  earnest  Christian,  a  splendid  worker,  but  no 
teacher.  The  students,  in  a  measure,  lost  their 
respect  for  him  in  that  capacity.  He  was  perhaps 
incited  by  his  friends  to  think  that  I  was  a  party  to 
his  failure  as  Principal  of  the  Institution.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  he  resigned,  and  the  Conference 
sent  Rev.  Wm.  L.  Harris  to  take  the  position. 

The  circumstances  of  my  re-election  that  year 
are  interesting  at  least  to  me.  Brother  Baldwin 
took  a  very  earnest  part  in  it.  It  was  said  by  the 


SOME  EXPERIENCES  WITH  JOHN  BALDWIN.       169 

friends  of  Dr.  Warner  that  all  the  trouble  between 
the  School  and  Dr.  Warner  originated  with  me ; 
hence  there  was  considerable  effort,  on  the  part  of 
the  preachers  especially,  to  dislodge  me.  Adam 
Poe,  who  was  our  Presiding  Elder,  had  been  posted 
on  all  the  difficulties  in  the  school,  and  at  the  elec- 
tion by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  eight  of  whom 
were  preachers,  and  seven,  laymen,  it  was  thought 
that  there  could  not  be  a  majority  secured  for  my 
re-election.  Knowing  the  prejudices  in  the  case, 
I  went  to  Brother  Baldwin  and  told  him  I  was  not 
a  candidate  for  re-election.  He  wished  me  to  per- 
mit my  name  to  be  submitted  as  a  candidate.  I 
told  him  I  could  only  consent  on  two  conditions. 
The  one  was,  that  I  should  have  my  salary  se- 
cured, with  an  advance  of  one  hundred  dollars  ; 
the  other,  that  I  should  have  the  unanimous  vote 
of  the  Board.  "  The  first  condition  I  will  take 
care  of  myself,"  said  he;  "the  second  condition 
is  too  hard,  but  I  will  see."  Not  being  a  member 
of  the  Conference,  or  of  the  Board,  I  was  not 
present  at  the  election  of  the  several  teachers,  but 
as  soon  as  the  election  had  transpired,  Brother 
Baldwin  came  to  me  somewhat  elated,  saying: 
"You  are  trapped,  your  conditions  are  met." 
'•  How  can  that  be?"  said  I.  "  I  understood  the 
preachers  were  all  going  to  vote  against  me.  He 
said:  "I  don't  know  how  that  was,  but  there  are 
fifteen  members  of  the  Board,  and  there  were  four- 
teen white  beans,  and  one  black  one,  and  we  know 
the  President  voted.  He  was  not  authorized  to  do 


I/O  REMINISCENCES. 

so  except  in  case  of  a  tie.  So  there  is  no  doubt 
of  your  conditions  being  met,  you  have  received  a 
unanimous  vote."  I  replied :  "That  being  the 
case,  I  shall  continue  in  the  Baldwin  Institute" 
(the  name  which  was  adopted).  Brother  Harris 
came  on  in  September,  aad  assumed  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  Principalship.  I  had  heretofore,  al- 
though nominally  assistant,  been  Principal  of  the 
school,  and  had  taken  the  chief  responsibility  in 
maintaining  the  order  and  discipline  of  the  Institu- 
tion. Brother  Harris  insisted,  although  he  was 
Principal,  and  received  double  the  salary,  that  I 
should  still  continue  in  charge  of  the  general  study- 
room,  thus  burdening  me  with  the  responsibility 
of  the  government  and  order  of  the  Institution. 
Brother  Baldwin  was  absent  in  New  York  at  the 
time  Brother  Harris  assumed  his  po'sition,  and  I 
had  not  him  to  appeal  to.  I  soon  gave  in  my  res- 
ignation and  withdrew,  having  previously  received 
a  call  to  establish  a  school  at  Chardon. 

I  went  immediately  there  to  complete  arrange- 
ments for  my  removal.  On  my  return,  I  met 
Brother  Baldwin  in  Cleveland,  on  his  way  home 
from  New  York.  Of  course,  I  'was  compelled  to 
inform  him  of  the  reason  why  I  was  not  in  school. 
I  had  made  arrangements  to  move  to  Chardon  to 
open  a  school  there.  He  seemed  very  much  af- 
fected, very  much  chagrined,  and  asked  if  it  were 
not  possible  for  me  to  remain  in  Berea.  I  told  him 
it  was  impossible  for  me  to  work  in  slavery ;  that 
Brother-  Harris  had  come  there  prejudiced  against 


SOME  EXPERIENCES  WITH  JOHN  BALDWIN.       171 

me,  and  that  he  and  I  could  never  work  together. 
So  I  moved  to  Chardon  and  commenced  my  work 
there. 

I  soon  had  an  application  for  the  purchase  of 
one  or  both  of  my  houses  in  Berea.  I  returned  to 
Berea  to  complete  the  negotiations  for  the  sale  of 
my  property.  Now  this  property  had  been  virtu- 
ally given  me  by  Brother  Baldwin,  in  addition  to 
the  regular  salary  which  I  felt  to  be  satisfactory. 
In  view  of  this  fact,  I  offered  to  give  the  property 
to  Brother  Baldwin  for  anything  he  chose  to  pay 
for  it.  He  refused  to  purchase  it  for  anything  less 
than  its  full  value,  and  assured  me  I  should  feel 
free  to  dispose  of  it  as  well  as  I  could  and  he  would 
aid  me  in  making  the  sales. 

I  have  not  related  the  manner  in  which  I  came 
into  possession  of  the  'second  house  and  lot.  My 
labor  in  the  management  of  the  school  in  the  new 
brick  building  before  it  came  into  possession  of 
Conference,  was  severe  and  exciting,  and  Brother 
Baldwin  suggested  that  I  build  a  new  home  on 
the  lot  near  the  school-grounds.  I  told  him  I  had 
nothing  to  build  with.  He  said  it  made  no  differ- 
ence. "You  need  a  home  here,  and  it  will  be  my 
business  to  see  that  you  get  one.  Now,"  said  he, 
"will  you  come  with  me  and  select  a  lot?  You 
may  have  any  lot  which  you  select,  and  I  will 
make  you  a  deed  for  it."  I  selected  one  over- 
looking the  water.  He  didn't  know  whether  it 
would  be  healthy,  as  we  had  suffered  considerably 
from  malaria  of  the  same  pond.  "Well,"  said  I, 


172  REMINISCENCES. 

"  I  will  select  another  lot  more  remote."  He  ob- 
jected to  that,  because,  he  said,  the  land  was 
marshy  and  would  cost  too  much  to  drain  it. 
' '  Brother  Holbrook, "  said  he,  ' '  let  me  select  you 
a  lot,  won't  you?"  "Yes, "  said  I.  He  took 
me  to  his  orchard,  and,  looking  upon  the  village 
plan  (which  didn't  include  his  orchard),  he  said,  "I 
think  the  southern  part  of  the  orchard  will  make 
you  a  good  lot. "  "Sir,  "said  I,  "do  you  mean 
to  say  that  you  intend  to  give  me  a  lot  including 
one-third  of  your  splendid  orchard  ?  "  "  Does  it 
suit  you?"  said  he.  "  I  am  satisfied,  if  you  are." 
That  settled  the  matter.  He  proceeded  at  once  to 
furnish  me  building  materials  for -a  new  house,  a 
two-story  brick,  36x18.  In  digging  the  cellar  I 
struck  a  vein  of  soft  water,  all  the  water  in  that 
region  being  specially  impregnated  with  various 
salts  from  the  clay  soil,  and  too  hard  for  many 
domestic  uses.  This  is  the  way  I  obtained  my 
two  houses  in  Berea. 

On  another  visit  to  Berea  I  met  Brother  Bald- 
win going  home  from  Cleveland.  After  inquiring 
as  to  my  condition,  and  the  health  of  my  family, 
he  began  to  give  me  the  news  from  Berea,  during 
the  few  weeks  in  which  I  had  been  absent.  Among 
other  things  of  interest  that  he  mentioned,  he 
said  that  he  had  been  engaged  in  building  a  new 
railroad  to  his  quarries  in  Berea,  and  the  railroad 
would  be  completed  in  a  few  days,  for  the  trans- 
portation of  his  produce,  grindstones,  and  other 
such  wares.  "Oh,"  said  he,  "I  want  to  tell  you 'a 


SOME  EXPERIENCES  WITH  JOHN  BALDWIN. 

little  experience  I  had  the  other  day  in  going  to 
Cleveland.  You  know  I  am  not  very  particular  in 
my  dress,  and  I  started  from  my  quarries  with 
several  thousand  dollars  in  my  pockets  to  pay  for 
the  iron  which  I  had  purchased  from  the,  Cleveland 
and  Columbus  Railroad  Company.  When  the 
conductor  came  along  to  collect  the  fare,  he  ad- 
dressed me  rather  roughly,  saying :  '  You  old  cuss, 
what  are  you  doing  here  ? '  I  told  him  I  was  on 
my  way  to  Cleveland  to  attend  to  some  business. 
'Well,'  said  he,  'come  here  with  me.'  I  did 
not  move  quite  as  fast  as  I  do  sometimes,  and  he 
found  it  necessary  to  assist  me,  by  taking  hold  of 
my  collar  and  leading  me  out  into  the  baggage  car, 
where  he  set  me  upon  a  pile  of  mail  bags.  After 
collecting  the  fare  of  the  rest  of  the  passengers, 
he  returned  to  me  with  the  inquiry,  '  Well,  old 
chap,  have  you  got  your  fare  ready? '  I  told  him 
I  would  get  it  ready  as  soon  as  I  could.  Said  he, 
'  Hurry  up,  hurry  up,'  I  took  out  my  old  pocket- 
book,  which  happened  to  have  about  $10,000  in  it, 
and  turned  over  the  bills  one  after  another,  ap- 
parently to  see  if  I  could  find  a  small  bill  to  pay 
my  fare.  As  I  was  turning  over  the  $100  bills,  I 
looked  up  to  the  fellow  to  see  how  he  was  taking 
it.  He  was  beginning  to  sweat  and  look  rather 
wild.  I  told  him  for  his  encouragement  that  I 
thought  I  could  pay  my  fare,  if  he  would  only  give 
me  a  little  more  time.  I  didn't  find  the  bill 
I  was  looking  for,  in  fact,  I  had  a  pass,  but  I 
knew  it  was  not  there.  In  the  meantime  he  broke 


174  REMINISCENCES. 

out:  '  Who  in  h — 1  are  you  any  how?'  'Oh, 
that  doesn't  make  any  special  difference,  does  it, 
if  you  get  your  fare  all  right  ?  Now,  come  to  think 
of  it,  I  have  a  pass  over  this  road,  if  I  have  not  left 
it  at  home.'  Not  waiting  for  my  pass,  he  shot 
out  of  the  car.  I  continued  sitting  on  the  mail- 
bags  until  I  got  to  Cleveland,  as  I  had  not  ob- 
tained permission  to  occupy  any  other  place. 
The  authorities,  however,  heard  of  the  occurrence 
through  the  passengers,  or  some  of  the  employes, 
and  assured  me  that  I  should  never  be  troubled 
with  him  again.  He  was  discharged,  I  suppose, 
as  I  never  saw  him  afterward." 

Another  piece  of  news  he  related  on  our  way  to 
Berea.      I  will  try  to  relate  it  in  his  own  words  as 

nearly  as  I  can.      ''You  remember  Sister  C , 

Brother  Holbrook?"  "Yes,  sir."  "Well,  you 
know  that  she  is  a  devoted  Christian,  but  has  her 
moods.  She  came  into  our  house  one  morning  in 
a  special  mood  of  exultation,  and  addressed  me 
with,  '  Brother  Baldwin,  don't  you  think  there  was 
a  special  interposition  of  Providence  in  Brother 

Holbrook's  leaving  here  and  Brother  H taking 

his  place  as  Principal  of  our  school?'  '  How  so  ?'  said 
I,  '  Why,  don't  you  see,  that  little  man  could  never 
have  controlled  these  bad  young  men  that  have 

been  here  this  year.     It  takes  Brother  H to 

crush  them  and  keep  things  in  order.'      I  replied, 

'  Why  Sister  C ,  Brother  Holbrook  was  here 

nine  years  and  the  school  grew  continually  under 
his  management,  and  I  never  knew  of  his  having 


SOME  EXPERIENCES  WITH  JOHN  BALDWIN.       1/5 

any  bad  students  to  manage.  It  is  my  opinion 
if  he  had  remained  here  nine  years  longer  that 
there  would  have  been  no  bad  boys  in  the  school 
to  manage. ' ' 

After  he  had  completed  the  large  brick  build- 
ing which  I  have  mentioned  before,  his  wife,  hav- 
ing exerted  herself  to  board  the  hands,  was  pros- 
trated with  a  low,  nervous  fever,  brought  on  by 
overwork  and  exhaustion.  He  left  all  his  business 
to  other  people  and  gave  his  entire  attention  to 
nursing  his  wife,  with  such  other  help  as  he  deemed 
necessary.  He  employed  no  physician.  He  heard 
'that  some  of  the  neighbors  were  circulating  the 
scandal  that  he  was  too  stingy  or  too  crotchety  to 
employ  a  physician.  Now,  no  man  thought  more 
of  his  wife  than  Brother  Baldwin,  nor  had  reason 
to.  This  report,  therefore,  was  more  than  he 
could  stand.  He  did  not  wish  to  trust  his  wife  in 
the  hands  of  a  physician,  fearing  the  result  might 
be  very  uncertain,  but  felt  that  his  own  constant  care 
and  affection  were  necessary  to  her  recovery.  The 
plan  which  he  adopted  to  quell  these  scandalous 
remarks  was  to  me  exceedingly  interesting  and  like 
the  man  himself.  He  made  me  his  confident  from 
the  first.  The  plan  was  this:  He  first  sent  for 

Dr.  H ,  the  leading  physician  of ,  about 

twenty  miles  from  Berea.  He  came,  spent  about 
twelve  hours  in  examining  Mrs.  Baldwin's  case, 
and  decided,  after  this  long,  serious  and  faithful 
examination,  that  if  there  was  any  local  trouble  it 
was  in  her  lungs,  prescribed  for  her  and  said  that 


176  REMINISCENCES. 

the  most  she  needed  was  good  nursing.  He  left 
the  case  in  Bro.  B. 's  hands.  The  next  day  Brother 

Baldwin  sent  for   Dr.    W ,   an   old   physician 

about  four  miles  south  of  Berea,  in  Strongsville. 
He  came  and  spent  a  day  examining  her  symp- 
toms, for  Brother  Baldwin  was  considered  the  most 
important  patron  in  that  part  of  the  State,  per- 
haps. Not  being  informed  as  to  the  decision  of 

Dr.    H ,    he  concluded  that  the  difficulty  of 

Mrs.  B.  — if  there  was  any  local  disease  —  was  in 
her  kidneys,  saying  also,  that  her  sickness  was 
principally  from  overwork,  and  the  most  that  she 
needed  was  rest  and  careful  nursing.  Next  day 

Dr.  L ,  a  young  physician,  was  sent  for.     He 

came,  and  examining  the  case  about  five  minutes, 
without  hesitation  said  the  only  difficulty  was  in 
her  stomach,  and  that  her  digestion  was  impaired. 
The  next  day  these  three  physicians  were  called  to 
hold  a  consultation.  Each  found  that  the  others  had 
been  called  before.  They  were  previously  com- 
mitted on  these  diagnoses.  After  they  had  wran- 
gled about  two  hours  and  had  come  to  no  agree- 
ment, Brother  Baldwin  dismissed  them,  saying 
perhaps  he  had  better  take  the  case  again  himself. 
He  paid  their  fees  and  they  departed,  not  suspect- 
ing the  trick  that  had  been  played  upon  them. 
The  fun  of  the  thing  was  the  intelligence,  pene- 
tration and  confidence  of  the  young  doctor,  who 
had  been  practicing  only  a  few  weeks,  while  it 
took  all  day  for  the  old  physicians  to  find  out 


SOME  EXPERIENCES  WITH  JOHN  BALDWIN. 

what  he  ascertained  in  five  minutes,  and  prescribed 
for  accordingly. 

I  left  Berea  in  1849.  In  l88o>  Brother  Bald- 
win, on  his  annual  visit  from  Bayou  Teche,  La. , 
wliere  he  had  purchased  a  plantation,  gave  me  a 
call  at  my  residence  in  Lebanon,  O.  It  was  on 
this  wise.  The  whole  country,  for  some  two  or 
three  years,  had  been  terribly  afflicted  with  tramps. 
Almost  daily  one  or  more  called  at  my  house. 
No  doubt  they  had  learned  from  each  other  that 
my  wife  never  permitted  a  person  to  go  away 
hungry  from  our  door.  Being  seated  with  my 
family  at  dinner  one  day,  we  noticed  a  disagree- 
able-looking man  going  toward  the  kitchen  where 
the  tramps  generally  called.  Josiah  remarked, 
looking  at  his  mother,  "There,  ma,  is  one  of  your 
friends. "  Mrs.  Holbrook  started  to  the  kitchen,  to 
meet  him  at  the  door.  Looking  at  him  kindly 
and  earnestly,  she  said  :  "  What  do  you  want,  sir?" 
He  looked  at  her  intently  and  said  :  ' '  Why,  Sister 
Holbrook,  don't  you  know  me?"  "Why,  Brother 
Baldwin,  is  that  you?"  My  wife,  in  relating  the 
circumstance  afterward,  vindicated  her  practice  of 
feeding  tramps  by  quoting  the  Scripture.  "Be 
careful  to  entertain  strangers,"  etc. 
12 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  CHARDON,   O. 

HAVING  received  an  invitation  from  the  citizens 
of  Chardon  to  commence  a  school  in  that  place,  I 
removed  there  with  my  family  in  the  fall  of  1849. 
My  school  opened  pleasantly,  with  a  larger  patron- 
age than  I  had  expected,  or  than  had  been  prom- 
ised. I  took  with  me  for  an  assistant,  Miss  Edna 
Whipple,  a  former  pupil.  We  were  thoroughly 
occupied  with  the  work  of  the  school.  The 
patronage  was  at  first  entirely  from  the  village  and 
from  the  immediate  surrounding  country,  and  the 
study,  for  the  most  part,  accomplished  in  the 
schoolroom.  As  the  school  progressed,  students 
came  in  from  abroad  and  secured  rooms,  some  of 
whom  only  recited  in  the  schoolrooms,  studying 
in  their  own  rooms.  The  children  of  the  village, 
however,  continued  to  do  their  school-work  in  the 
schoolrooms,  both  recitation  and  study.  I  took 
charge  of  the  principal  room,  which  was  the  study- 
room,  hearing  my  recitations  in  the  same  room. 
Miss  Whipple  occupied  a  similar  room  and  heard 
recitations,  her  classes  studying  under  my  charge. 
I  introduced  here  the  self-reporting  plan  of  sus- 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  CHARDON,   O.  I/Q 

taining  order,  the  same  as  I  had  previously  used 
in  Berea.  There  is  no  form  of  school  management 
which  has  been  the  theme  of  so  much  bitter  dis- 
cussion as  this  method.  It  is  charged  against  it 
that  it  is  an  infallible  method  of  training  to  lie; 
that  it  never,  in  any  instance,  can  have  any  other 
effect  upon  the  character  and  morals  of  its  victims; 
that  even  the  best  of  pupils  will  be  demoralized 
by  its  inevitable  influence.  Where  I  first  received 
my  idea  of  the  advantage  of  self-reporting,  I  am 
unable  now  to  determine;  but  the  result  in  my 
practice  and  with  my  pupils,  while  it  did  not  make 
a  perfectly  truthful  individual  of  every  pupil  under 
its  influence  at  once,  was  such  that  I  was  satisfied 
it  was  the  best  plan  I  had  ever  employed  to  train 
pupils  to  truthfulness  and  to  respect  those  who 
told  the  truth.  In  reflecting  upon  this  matter  and 
endeavoring  to  account  for  the  sad  differences  of 
opinion  with  regard  to  its  influence  upon  'the 
moral  character  of  the  students  under  its  control, 
I  have  made  this,  generalization:  That  in  all  cases 
where  it  has  trained  pupils  to  falsehood,  deceit  or 
treachery,  it  was  from  the  utter  mismanagement 
of  the  system,  or  from  the  unreliable  character  of 
him  or  her  who  attempted  to  apply  it.  For  a 
moody  or  exacting  person  to  adopt  this  plan 
would,  as  I  apprehend,  result  in  a  failure.  For 
an  untruthful  person,  or  one  in  whom  the  students 
had  not  the  most  implicit  confidence,  trusting  to 
his  honesty,  and,  I  may  say,  his  honor,  the  results 
would  be  sad  indeed — infallibly  so. 


ISO  REMINISCENCES. 

Much  is  said  upon  moral  instruction,  and 
many  books  are  written  for  the  purpose  of  aiding 
teachers  in  reclaiming  their  pupils  from  the  im- 
morality of  untruthfulness,  and,  doubtless,  there 
are  few  teachers  who  have  not  made  the  strong- 
est effort  to  aid  their  pupils  in  overcoming  this 
disastrous  habit;  but  these  efforts,  so  far  as 
I  have  noticed,  have  been,  for  the  most  part, 
hortatory  rather  than  practical.  And  if  any 
measures  have  been  used  in  this  direction, 
they  were  nothing  more  nor  less  than  puni- 
tive, and  understood  by  the  student  to  be1  vin-  ' 
dictive.  The  hortatory  plan,  in  other  words, 
preaching,  does  very  little  good,  so  far  as  I  have 
noticed,  unless  sustained  by  a  consistent  and 
kindly  administration  of  thorough-going  and  prac- 
tical love  for  the  truth  and  forbearance  with  those 
who  have  little  regard  for  it. 

Now,  training  in  any  direction,  as  I  understand 
it,  requires  that  the  trained  have  opportunity  for 
practice  under  the  possibility  of  failure  in  the  lines 
of  the  desired  improvement.  The  only  practical 
plan  in  training  for  truthfulness — that  is,  such  a 
plan  as  will  give  the  student  an  opportunity  to- 
help  himself,  for  training  is  nothing  unless  the 
trained  takes  hold  of  his  own  case — and  the  only 
really  successful  plan  of  training  the  pupil  in  over- 
coming this  bad  habit,  that  I  have  ever  seen 
recommended  or  experimented  upon,  is  that  of 
self-reporting  in  some  form  or  other.  For,  how 
carl  there  be  any  training,  in  the  true  sense,  other 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  CHARDON,    O.  l8l 

than  that  the  pupil  shall  accept  of  the  fact  of  his 
being  trained,  and  make  an  effort  to  help  the 
trainer  to  overcome  the  difficulty  involved  ?  Self- 
reporting,  involving  proper  precaution,  consistent, 
kindly  administration,  a  hopeful  purpose  on  the 
part  of  the  trainer,  a  charitable  construction  for 
the  partial  failure  of  the  trained,  involves  just  the 
elements  which  constitute  a  successful  course  of 
training  in  any  and  every  other  line  of  human 
experience;  none  the  less  so  in  the  matter  of 
truthfulness,  as  the  first  object  to  be  gained  in 
moral  improvement  in  an  ordinary  school  of  ordi- 
nary children.  My  experience  in  this  direction 
was,  on  the  whole,  in  every  case  wherever  I  used 
it,  the  gradual  improvement  of  all  who  came  under 
its  influence.  It  did  not  prevent  lying  and  deceit 
the  first  day  entirely,  nor  the  first  month,  nor  the 
first  term,  nor  the  first  year,  with  a  good  many 
children.  What  plan  ever  did,  that  did  not  involve 
self-reporting?  But  it  never  failed  to  reach  a 
large  majority  of  untruthful  students,  and  to  make 
them  more  watchful  of  themselves  and  more  res- 
pectful to  those  whom  they  had  reason  to  know 
were  truthful,  and  better  prepared  to  accept  the 
conditions  of  religious  influences  in  the  church 
and  Sabbath-school.  To  those  who  have  tried  it 
and  failed,  I  would  simply  state,  that  there  were 
some  conditions  mentioned  above,  which  were 
lacking,  as  causes  of  the  failure.  The  causes  were 
not  in  the  system  itself;  and  if  any  teacher  has 
any  other  system  more  practical  or  practicable,  of 


1 82  REMINISCENCES. 

training  children  out  of  this  form  of  wickedness 
into  a  reliable  and  truthful  character,  I  have  never 
heard  of  anything  of  the  kind.  I  am  still  waiting 
and  watching  for  a  more  practical  plan  of  training 
in  this  direction. 

In  its  geological  character  Chardon  was  an  in- 
teresting study  for  me.  It  is  situated  on  a  knob 
of  higher  elevation  than  any  other  point,  perhaps, 
in  Northern  Ohio.  Near  the  summit  of  this  knob 
was  a  never-failing  spring.  The  town  seems  to 
have  been  laid  out  about  this  spring,  as  "The 
Green,"  so-called,  being  in  the  center  of  the  town, 
incloses  the  spring.  It  mattered  little  whether  it 
was  wet  or  dry,  cold  or  hot,  the  overflow  from 
this  spring  was  not  affected.  A  considerable 
brook  flowed  from  it.  Other  springs  on  different 
sides  of  the  knob  also  shed  their  smaller  streams 
in  various  directions.  It  was  a  query  with  me, 
whence  the  source  of  all  this  supply  of  water, 
pure,  clear  and  soft?  In  examining  the  outcrop- 
pings,  I  discovered  that  the  formation  was  con- 
glomerate, constituted  almost  entirely  of  quartz 
pebbles  of  all  sizes,  from  the  most  minute  to  the 
size  of  a  man's  head.  These  were  held  together 
by  sufficiently  fine  cement,  and  not  having  ana- 
lyzed it  myself,  or  having  known  of  others  analyz- 
ing it,  I  could  hardly  think  the  cement  was 
limestone  cement,  as  the  water  which  flowed  from 
it  was  entirely  soft  The  supply  was  found  over 
the  entire  extent  of  the  village — not  that  there 
were  overflowing  springs  in  every  village  lot,  but 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  CHARDON,    O.  18$ 

that  the  well  of  nearly  every^  house,  so  far  as  I 
knew,  was  made  by  boring  an  orifice  about  four 
inches  in  diameter  to  a  sufficient  depth,  varying 
from  six  to  twelve  feet.  A  long,  cylindrical 
bucket  of  tin,  with  a  valve  at  the  bottom,  was 
used  for  taking  water  from  these  wells.  The 
question  arises,  Whence  the  supply  ot  water? 
since  no  land  any  higher  was  found  anywhere 
within  fifty  miles,  if  within  a  hundred  miles.  The 
only  solution  suggesting  itself  to  me  was,  that  the 
water  came  up  from  beneath — from  the  conglom- 
erate formation  by  capillary  attraction,  as  it  finds 
its  way  through  the  bottom  of  a  sugar  loaf  to  its 
top. 

At  the  close  of  my  first  year  Miss  Whipple  left 
me  and  entered  into  a  marriage  arrangement  to 
emigrate  to  Walla  Walla,  Washington  Territory. 
There  were  then  no  roads,  and  her  company  was, 
so  far  as  I  know,  the  first  company  that  went 
through  the  wilderness  to  that  coast.  I  presume 
she  and  her  descendants  can  be  found  in  that  lo- 
cality at  the  present  day. 

In  those  days  St.  Paul  was  far  enough  out  of 
the  world,  and  any  educational  efforts  in  that  di- 
rection were  certainly  of  a  missionary  character. 
It  was  my  good  fortune  to  meet,  in  one  of  my 
trips  to  Cleveland,  a  Miss  Bishop,  educated  by 
Governor  Slade,  of  Vermont,  for  the  purpose  of 
aiding  the  West  in  her  educational  progress.  It 
was  somewhat  on  this  wise:  I  was  buying  books 
at  the  Cleveland  Bookstore.  It  seems  that  the 


184  REMINISCENCES. 

ladies  of  Cleveland  had  formed  a  temporary  asso- 
ciation, with  very  liberal  contributions,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  furnishing    Miss    Bishop   an    outfit  with 
which  to  commence  her  school  work  at  St.  Paul, 
among  the  half-breeds  and  other  children  inhabit- 
ing that  locality.      Miss  Bishop  was  selecting  the 
requisite  books,  school  apparatus  and  stationery 
for  her   enterprise.      While   conversing  with   her 
her  brother  came  in  upon  us,  a  reputable  lawyer 
of  Cleveland  at  that  time.     As  there  were  no  pub- 
lic conveyances  further  West  than  Chicago,  I  in- 
quired of  her  how- she  ever  expected  to  get  to  St. 
Paul.      "Why,"  said  she,   "my  brother,  here,  in- 
tends to  go  with  me  as  far  as  the  public  stages  go ; 
then  I  expect  to  go  alone."      "What!"  said  I, 
"all  alone?"     She  said:    "Yes;  he  is  going  with 
me  as  far  as  he  dare.      I  am  going  the  rest  of  the 
way  by  myself."     The   lawyer  brother  accepted 
the   statement  with  a  smile,   and,   I   suppose,  at 
least,    there  was   the   semblance   of  truth   in   the 
statement,  though  not  so  much,  perhaps,  as  there 
was  of  humor  and  bravado.      It  was  characteristic, 
however,  of  Miss  Bishop,  as  an  educator,  as  a  mis- 
sionary and  as  a  lady.      For  many  months  after- 
ward her  communications  from  St.  Paul  appeared 
in  the  Independent,  and  were  exceedingly  instruct- 
ive, interesting  and  racy.     They  at  length  ceased. 
It  was  some  years  afterward  that  I  learned  the 
cause  of  the  discontinuance  of  her  communications 
to  the  Independent.     It  was  the  old  story.      She 
fell  in  love  with  a  reckless  fellow  out  there  and 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  CHARDON,    O.  1 8$ 

threw  herself  away.  And  I  must  always  think 
that  this,  and  other  like  results,  of  Governor  Slade's 
missionary  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  West,  deterred 
him  from  continuing  what  seemed  to  me  a  very 
laudable  enterprise. 

It  was  while  living  at  Chardon,  in  1850,  that  I 
first  heard  Governor  Corwin  as  a  public  speaker. 
I  had  seen  him  in  New  York  City  and  heard  him 
in  friendly  conversation,  but  only  knew  of  his  ora- 
torical powers  as  a  current,  historical  fact.  I 
made  the  journey  of  forty  miles  from  Chardon  to 
Cleveland  for  the  express  purpose  of  listening  to 
Governor  Corwin.  He  was  canvassing  the  State 
in  behalf  of  Henry  Clay,  the  Whig  candidate  for 
the  Presidency.  Cassius  M.  Clay  made  the  first 
speech.  It  was  logical  and  commanding;  about 
an  hour  in  length.  Governor  Corwin  followed, 
and,  according  to  my  judgment,  Mr.  Corwin's 
effort  transcended  anything  and  everything  I  had 
ever  heard  from  the  leading  orators  of  the  nation, 
among  whom  I  could  enumerate  Daniel  Webster, 
John  Quincy  Adams  and  Henry  Clay.  In  any 
role  in  which  any  one  of  these  gentlemen  excelled 
all  others,  whether  that  of  senatorial  dignity,  of 
fiery  declamation,  or  of  winning  and  irresistible 
persuasion,  Corwin  was,  according  to  my  estimate, 
superior  to  any  of  the  gentlemen  above  named. 
But  in  humor,  in  wit,  in  buffoonery,  in  ridicule,  in 
travesty,  in  burlesque  and  in  every  line  of  the 
comic  and  grotesque,  Governor  Corwin  was  tran- 
scendent over  everything  that  I  ever  witnessed. 


1 86  REMINISCENCES. 

My  journey,  the  time  and  expense  involved,  and 
the  fact  of  standing  three  hours,  without  any 
possibility  of  securing  a  seat,  as  one  in  a  crowd  of 
ten  thousand,  were  a  thousandfold  compensated 
by  the  wonderful  gifts  of  the  inimitable  orator; 
inimitable,  as  I  think,  in  all  these  directions. 

On  returning  from  Berea  after  the  sale  of  my 
property,  and  being  delayed  beyond  expectation, 
and  feeling  it  necessary  that  I  should  be  at  home 
on  Sabbath  morning,  I  started  from  Berea  to 
Cleveland  late  in  the  afternoon.  Passing  through 
Cleveland,  I  took  supper,  it  being  already  dark, 
at  a  public  house,  several  miles  east  of  Cleveland. 
Calling  for  my  horse  immediately  after  supper,  I 
went  out  to  find  the  most  unmitigated  density  of 
darkness  that  I  had  ever  experienced.  It  was  my 
purpose  to  travel  as  far  as  Kirtland,  at  least,  that 
night.  It  was  utterly  impossible  for  me  to  distin- 
guish the  road.  I  left  the  guidance  of  the  horse 
to  his  own  better  sight.  Before  I  had  traveled 
very  far — a  half  a  mile  or  so — ft  gradually  became 
lighter,  so  that  I  could  distinguish  the  road.  The 
clouds  seemed  to  be  as  heavy  and  as  dense,  and 
the  atmosphere  as  thick  with  fog  as  before,  but  all 
around  the  eastern  horizon  was  a  beautiful  ribbon 
of  light  shining  through  the  darkness.  I  had 
never  witnessed  such  a  phenomenon  before,  and 
have  never  since.  What  would  have  been  the  re- 
sult of  my  night's  venture  in  the  darkness  without 
this  providential  interposition  in  my  favor,  I  am  un- 
able to  opine.  As  it  was,  however,  I  traveled  with 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  CHARDON,    O.  iS/ 

the  usual  rapidity  over  the  muddy  road  until  I 
reached  my  destination  for  the  night,  about  nine 
o'clock.  The  next  morning,  starting  early  for 
Chardon,  I  found  my  family  in  good  condition,  as 
I  had  hoped,  the  doctor  in  attendance,  and  one  of 
my  children  born  soon  after  my  arrival. 

My  experience  with  county  examiners  in  the 
different  counties  where  I  have  taught  has  been 
somewhat  varied  and  considerably  interesting.  In 
every  county  I  have  found  one  of  the  examiners 
in  a  rival  school.  In  Geauga  County,  as  in  other 
counties,  it  was  the  practice  for  the  examiner  to 
drill  his  pupils  previous  to  the  examination  for 
days  or  weeks  upon  the  very  questions  on  which 
they  were  to  be  examined.  Of  course  there 
was  sufficient  reason  for  objection  to  this  plan. 
Every  such  examiner,  for  a  temporary  advantage, 
was  working  against  the  interest  and  honesty  of 
the  schools,  his  pupils  and  the  community.  Every 
such  examiner  has  worked  himself  out  of  the  con- 
fidence of  his  patrons  and  out  of  his  position, 
sooner  or  later.  Still,  this  is  a  grievous  evil  found 
in  many  parts  of  this  State  and  in  many  others. 
The  laws  which  have  been  enacted  to  correct  the 
evil  are,  in  most  cases,  by  the  conniving  of 
the  Probate  Judge,  whose  duty  it  is  to  enforce 
them,  ignored.  The  dishonesty  thus  practiced  on 
pupil  teachers  becomes  a  working  element  in  the 
schobls  thus  obtained,  and  thus  the  malign  influ- 
ence extends  itself  through  the  working  forces  of 
the  counties  and  States.  It  is  one  of  the  unsolved 


1 88  REMINISCENCES. 

mysteries  to  me,  how  respectable  and  religious 
people  can  trust  their  children  or  wards,  or  others 
in  whom  they  are  interested,  to  that  kind  of  de- 
moralizing teachers.  Why  do  not  the  people  of 
the  county,  or  of  the  township,  or  of  the  town, 
execute  the  laws,  exterminate  such  dishonesty  and 
save  their  children  from  its  terrible  influence? 
Our  laws  are  sufficiently  explicit,  but  the  com- 
munity lack  the  necessary  thoughtfulness  and 
moral  firmness  to  execute  them. 

Using  the  means  obtained  from  the  sale  of  my 
property  in  Berea,  I  went  through  Philadelphia 
and  New  York  to  Boston,  with  the  purpose  of 
selecting  such  apparatus  as  I  might  need  for  the 
illustration  of  the  physical  sciences.  I  expended 
$2,500  in  making  this  outfit.  The  manufacturer 
of  whom  I  bought  the  apparatus  had  been  trained 
in  the  manufactory  of  my  father,  and  had  been  a 
shop-mate  of  mine  in  Boston.  He  was  afterward 
Mayor  of  that  city.  As  I  had  been  raised  in  a 
manufactory  of  apparatus,  and  had  been  trained 
in  all  its  scientific  uses,  I  felt  it  impossible  to  teach 
these  sciences  without  apparatus  and  such  aid  as 
it  would  afford  in  the  way  of  illustration  and  prac- 
tical work.  Much  of  the  same  apparatus  I  retain 
at  the  present  time;  some,  however,  was  destroyed 
in  the  burning  of  our  university  building  in  Leb- 
anon, Ohio,  in  January,  1883.  It  consisted  of  a 
thorough  outfit  in  pneumatics,  mechanics '  and 
chemistry.  This  was,  perhaps,  one  reason  why 
my  school  grew  so  rapidly  in  Chardon  and  more 


MY  EXPERIENCES  IN  CIIAKDOX,    O.  189 

than  filled  the  accommodations  of  the  town.  Dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  my  second  school  year,  from, 
overwork,  my  health  began  to  fail,  and  I  thought 
it  best  on  the  whole  to  retire  for  awhile  from  the 
business.  I  closed  my  school,  refunded  tuition 
and  concluded  to  travel.  Meanwhile,  Dr.  Nich- 
olls,  of  the  Western  Reserve  Seminary,  offered 
me  an  equal  partnership  in  the  institution  of  which 
he  was  Principal.  I  accepted  the  proposition,  and 
after  a  few  weeks'  rest  moved  to  Kirtland  and 
took  my  position  as  Associate  Principal  in  West- 
ern Reserve  Teachers'  Seminary. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    KIRTLAND. 

HAVING  sold  my  property  in  Chardon,  and  closed 
up  my  business,  I  accepted  the  invitation  of  Rev. 
Truman  Coe,  to  occupy  his  house  in  Kirtland  with 
my  family.  "  Uncle  Coe,"  as  both  wife  and  I 
called  him,  had  been  intimately  connected  with 
our  childhood  and  youth,  as  he  was  in  partner- 
ship with  my  father  in  the  Derby  Academy,  and 
afterward  in  a  private  school  which  both  wife  and 
I  had  attended  as  children.  Truman  Coe's  father 
was  a  tanner ;  Truman  himself  was  a  shoemaker. 
On  the  shoemaker's  bench  he  acquired  his  educa- 
tion, at  the  time  my  father  was  at  Yale.  I  have 
heard  Uncle  Coe  allude  to  his  studies  upon  the 
shoemaker's  bench  in  words  something*like  these: 
"  For  years,  while  working  and  mending  my  neigh- 
bors' shoes,  I  was  mending  my  own  wits  from 
such  authors  as  Cicero,  Sallust,  and  Virgil."  In 
fact,  his  familiarity  with  the  Greek  and  Latin  was 
more  thorough  and  longer  continued  than  that  of 
most  college  graduates.  I  have  heard  my  father 
allude  to  Uncle  Coe  in  words  like  these:  "/  could 
always  accomplish  anything  I  undertook,  if  I  had 
(190) 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  IQI 

good  tools ;  Brother  Coe  can  do  equally  as  well 
without  any  tools."  Truman  Coe  had  married 
my  aunt,  Anne  Holbrook ;  hence  we  called  him 
Uncle  Goe.  His  education  was  extended  and 
thorough.  The  dons  of  Yale  thought  his  success 
in  self-education  demanded  recognition.  The 
honorary  degree  of  M.  A.  was  conferred  upon 
him  before  my  memory.  I  remember  him  al- 
ways as  a  man  of  very  kindly  disposition,  of  equa- 
ble temperament,  and  especially  fond,  as  I 
supposed,  of  his  cousins,  as  he  used  to  call  my 
wife  and  me.  He  had  always  been,  from  my  earli- 
est recollection,  a  praying  man,  and  maintained  fam- 
ily prayer  and  prayer  in  his  school;  but  it  was  not 
until  an  extensive  revival  swept  over  the  country 
that  Uncle  Coe  united  with  the  church.  He  then 
took  a  decided  stand  as  a  working,  efficient,  ag- 
gressive Christian.  He  was  ordained  as  a  minister, 
and  occasionally  preached  in  Derby,  and  supplied 
vacant  pulpits  in  the  neighboring  towns.  About 
this  time  he  was  called  to  fill  the  pulpit  at  Kirtland, 
Ohio,  where  three  of  my  Holbrook  aunts  had  moved 
with  their  husbands  and  families,  to  take  posses- 
sion of  their  respective  farms,  which  had  come 
to  each  as  her  patrimony.  When  I  came  to  Ohio, 
I  made  Uncle  David  Holbrook's  and  Uncle  Coe's 
equally  my  homes,  but  Melissa  Pierson  (my  cousin) 
was  at  Uncle  Coe's  with  her  cousins,  more,  per- 
haps, than  at  her  own  home.  Here  we  renewed 
our  acquaintance  ;  she  having  left  Derby  at  eight 
years  of  age.  Uncle  Coe  was  a  cogent  writer,  and 


REMINISCENCES. 

an  interesting  preacher,  and  reckoned  one  of  the- 
strong  men  of  Western  Reserve.  Exceedingly 
modest  and  reserved,  he  always  waited  to  be 
called  and  urged  before  he  acted,  but  when  thus 
urged  and  roused,  he  exhibited  powers  which  al- 
ways commanded  respect.  In  Kirtland,  after  con- 
centrating the  activities  of  the  religious  people  in 
the  Congregational  Church  to  which  he  was  called, 
and  erecting  a  church  building,  he  put  up  a  very 
comfortable  home  for  himself.  It  was  this  home 
that  Melissa  and  I  frequented  before  we  were 
married,  and  now  occupied  after  we  had  been 
married  seven  years.  Apropos,  Uncle  Coe  traveled 
from  Kirtland  to  Berea,  a  distance  of  forty  miles 
or  so,  to  marry  "his  children,"  as  he  then  called  us. 
When  he  was  presented  with  the  meager  fee  for 
the  ceremony,  by  the  newly-made  husband,  he 
turned  to  my  wife  and  said:  "Mrs.  Holbrook, 
this  is  yours."  It  was  the  first  time  she  was  ad- 
dressed by  that  name.  As  an  instance  of  Uncle 
Coe's  temperament  and  self-forgetfulness,  I  will 
relate  a  circumstance  which  I  had  from  my  father : 
Once  on  a  time,  while  he  was  paying  addresses  to 
Anne  Holbrook,  she  being  engaged  in  domestic  af- 
fairs, just  at  that  time  having  taken  a  batch  of 
bread  from  the  oven  and  distributed  it  upon  the 
table  to  cool,  Truman,  thinking  it  time  to  depart, 
and  being  interested  in  Aunt  Anne,  more  than  in 
any  other  sublunary  affair,  seized  a  loaf  of  bread,  and 
departed  with  it  under  his  arm,  leaving  his  hat 
upon  a  table.  Whether  Anne  called  after  him, 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  193 

and  corrected  his  mistake,  or  whether  he  put  the 
newly-baked  loaf  on  his  head,  and  discovered  his 
mistake  in  that  way,  I  was  not  informed,  but  he 
returned  after  a  while,  and  dumping  the  bread  on 
the  table,  seized  his  hat  and  escaped. 

Before  entering  upon  my  duties  in  Western  Re- 
serve Seminary  with  Dr.  Nichols,  feeling  that,  as 
yet,  my  health  was  not  sufficiently  restored  for  the 
confinement  of  the  school-room,  I  made  a  jour- 
ney to  Cincinnati  and  New  Orleans,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  introducing  Holbrook's  apparatus  into  the 
public  schools  in  these  two  cities.  I  succeeded  in 
selling  about  twenty  sets  to  the  Cincinnati  schools, 
and  about  fifty  sets  to  the  New  Orleans  public 
schools.  I  had  no  letters  of  introduction ;  in  fact, 
knew  no  one,  to  whom  I  could  address  myself. 
This  was  in  1850.  I  found  Mr.  Gilford,  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Schools  in  Cincinnati,  and  Mr. 
Barney,  afterward  State  Commissioner,  Principal 
of  the  High  School.  Mr.  Knowlton  was  Assistant 
in  the  High  School.  I  was  treated  with  all  desir- 
able consideration  by  all  these  gentlemen,  and  my 
visit  to  Cincinnati  was  to  me  agreeable  and  profit- 
able in  every  sense. 

I  will  go  back  a  little  and  give  an  incident 
in  Columbus,  where  I  stopped  to  visit  an  old 
friend,  Dr.  Asa  D.  Lord.  The  Democrats  were 
then  in  possession  of  the  old  State  House. 
As  a  joke,  I  suppose,  more  perhaps  than  for 
any  other  reason,  they  had  granted  the  use  of 
the  Representatives'  Hall  for  a  course  of  lectures 
13 


REMINISCENCES. 

s  / 

to  Mrs.  Cole,  of  Michigan.  She  was  the  first 
female  lecturer  that  I  ever  listened  to.  I  had  at- 
tended two  lectures  of  her  course,  and  was  about 
to  depart  for  Cincinnati,  when  I  learned,  incident- 
ally, that  her  last  lecture  was  to  be  delivered  on 
Woman  Suffrage.  I  was  informed  at  the  hotel, 
where  I  was  stopping,  by  those  who  seemed  to 
know,  that  arrangements  had  been  made  by  those 
worthy  legislators  to  get  the  cream  of  their  joke 
in  giving  Mrs.  Cole  the  use  of  their  hall,  out  of  the 
lady,  by  turning  her  into  ridicule  in  her  last 
lecture,  which  was  on  Woman  Suffrage.  The 
most  witty  Democratic  speaker  was  selected  for 
this  purpose.  He  prepared  himself  for  the  occa- 
sion. The  hall  was  crowded ;  the  front  seats  were 
occupied  by  the  most  fashionable  ladies  of  Colum- 
bus and  Cincinnati.  They  came  to  see  their  sister, 
Mrs.  Cole,  made  a  laughing-stock  for  their  amuse, 
ment.  For  aught  I  know  there  were  as  many 
Republican  ladies  present  as  there  were  Demo- 
cratic. From  Mrs.  Cole's  app'earance,  when  she 
ascended  the  Speaker's  desk,  she  had  evidently 
been  informed  of  the  fate  which  had  been  planned 
for  her.  Though  her  lectures  were  written,  she 
had,  in  delivering  them,  given  her  notes  little  at- 
tention, speaking  very  fluently  and  forcibly  from 
memory  or  from  the  excitement  of  the  occasion. 
This  evening,  as  she  commenced  reading  her  notes 
very  closely,  she  made  several  errors  in  enuncia- 
tion, miscalling  her  words  and  exhibiting  other  signs 
of  embarrassment  and  distress.  Standing  as  I 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  195 

did,  where  I  could  see  the  countenances  of  all 
those  ladies  upon  the  front  seats,  it  was  very  ap- 
parent to  me  that  they  enjoyed  her  discomfiture. 
A  smile  and  a  mutual  recognition  of  her  stumbling 
went  along  the  whole  line.  But  she  proceeded 
and  it  was  some  minutes  before  she  recovered  her- 
self. Leaving  her  notes,  even  throwing  them 
aside,  she  commenced  her  address  in  earnest,  talk- 
ing to  the  Legislature,  and  not  to  those  ladies  who 
she  discovered  expected  her  "defeat  and  annihila- 
tion. *Itis  impossible  for  me  at  this  day,  having  read 
and  heard  a  hundred  such  lines  of  argument  since, 
to  reproduce  her  able  address,  but  this  I  remem- 
ber, that  after  she  had  recovered  herself  she  soon 
made  some  very  happy  points,  in  answering  objec- 
tions to  woman's  use  of  the  ballot,  and  as  she 
made  these  points,  one  after  another,  the  aforesaid 
ladies  looked  glum  and  in  a  measure  subdued. 
Proceeding,  however,  giving  little  or  no  attention 
to  the  ladies,  she  took  up  one  objection  after  an- 
other, making  to  each  in  succession  a  reply 
more  able, 'more  crushing  and  more  unanswer- 
able, until,  at  some  happ/  turn  of  her  discussion, 
she  brought  down  the  house.  I  looked  along 
the  row  of  ladies  to  see  how  they  took  it. 
They  began  to  smile  in  spite  of  themselves.  An- 
other happy  hit  accomplished  the  demolition,  if 
you  please,  of  all  opposition  from  these  same 
ladies  who  had  gone  there  to  enjoy  her  crushing, 
but  who  now  seemed  rejoice  in  her  triumph,  and 
several  of  her  last  replies  to  the  oft-repeated  and 


196  REMINISCENCES. 

stupid  objections  won  these  ladies  to  clap  as  loud 
as  their  little  hands  and  their  fans  would  admit.  I 
looked  for  the  Senator  who  had  taken  a  prominent 
place,  sitting  on  one  of  the  window-sills,  and  who 
had  expected  to  leave  not  even  a  shadow  of  her  or 
her  argument,  but  a  vacant  window-sill  only  was 
all  there  was  left  of  him.  The  replicant  was  miss- 
ing. She  closed  amid  the  uproarious  and  continued 
applause  of  all  present. 

It  was  also  my  good  fortune,  while  in  Columbus 
at  that  date,  to  listen  to  John  B.  Gough 'for  the 
first  time,  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  that 
city.  I  had  heard  much  of  Gough,  but  had  never 
seen  him.  As  it  happened,  two  legislators  took 
their  seats  near  me,  and  as  the  speaker  was  delayed 
an  hour  beyond  the  time  appointed  for  his  appear- 
ance, by  an  accident  to  the  train,  these  worthy 
legislators  took  up  Mr.  Gough  as  a  theme  for  dis- 
cussion. Each  seemed  to  vie  with  the  other  in 
denouncing,  traducing  and  abusing  him  as  a  shal- 
low-pated  ''jack  in  the  pulpit,"  who  put  on  theat- 
rical airs  and  spoke  something  he  had  borrowed  or 
stolen  from  some  writer  or  orator.  At  length  Gough 
entered  the  church.  There  was  no  particular  demon- 
stration for  or  against  him  as  a  speaker.  He  took 
his  place  in  the  pulpit,  but  had  only  spoken  a  few 
sentences  when  he  said  he  could  not  speak  in  that 
place,  in  that  box.  Turning  to  the  committee  he  sug- 
gested that  they  bring  two  or  three  dry-goods  boxes 
and  make  a  platform.  The  boxes  being  brought, 
and  a  temporary  platform  erected,  he  again  took 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  197 

his  place  as  speaker.  From  the  very  commence- 
ment of  his  speech  he  carried  his  audience  with 
him  His  humor,  his  wit,  his  scathing  denuncia- 
tion of  liquor-sellers,  his  terrible  pictures  of  the 
drunkard,  the  calamities  of  his  home,  were  terri- 
bly thrilling  and  vivid.  In  one  of  his  remark- 
able climaxes,  in  which,  as  I  thought,  his  first 
sentence  was  as  powerful  an  enunciation  of  his  posi- 
tion as  could  be  made,  he  went  on  for  six  progress- 
ive, accumulative  steps  in  his  climax,  until  the 
house,  carried  by  spontaneous  energy,  rose,  rose, 
rose  to  their  feet — many  standing  on  the  benches — 
stretching  their  necks  to  the  uttermost,  ascending, 
if  possible,  by  the  same  ladder  of  argument  with  his 
climax.  It  occurred  to  me,  "How  about  my  legisla- 
tive friends  who  had  called  him  'jackanapes'  and 
'jack  in  the  pulpit/  and  all  that?"  I  found  both 
of  them  stretching  themselves  upon  the  benches 
and  throwing  their  hats  toward  the  ceiling,  in 
common  sympathy  with  the  general  appreciation 
of  the  wonderfully  eloquent  flight  of  the  speaker. 
The  special  theme  for  this  climax  was  the  feelings 
of  a  mother  when  she  first  found  that  her  only  son 
was  a  drunkard. 

After  I  had  spent  a  week  or  two  in  Cincinnati, 
and  had  become  somewhat  familiar  with  the  work- 
ings of  their  school  systems  and  with  some  of  their 
prominent  teachers,  Mr.  Gifibrd  proposed  to  take 
me  to  Mount  Adams  and  introduce  me  to  Prof.  O. 
M.  Mitchell,  who,  he  had  been  informed,  had  just 
returned  from  his  first  lecture  tour  through  New 


198  REMINISCENCES. 

England.  The  Professor  was  in  a  very  happy 
mood.  I  was  especially  interested  in  his  narrative 
of  his  triumph  over  the  Harvard  professors,  Pierce 
and  Bond.  It  seems  he  had  met  these  gentlemen 
at  some  scientific  association  previous  to  this,  in 
New  York  or  elsewhere,  and  knew  them  at  sight. 
When  lecturing  in  New  Haven  to  the  highly  intel- 
ligent people  of  that  city,  with  increasing  audi- 
ences, he  had  sent  his  agent  to  Boston  to  advertise 
his  course  of  lectures.  He  had  heard  from  this 
agent  that  the  professors  there  had  said  that  his 
claims  were  preposterous,  especially  his  claim  in 
which  he  stated  that  he  could  measure  the  tenth 
part  of  a  second  of  circular  distance  in  the  heavens 
with  his  new  apparatus.  By  the  way,  I  ought 
to  say  here,  to  make  the  matter  more  intelligible, 
that  Dr.  Locke,  of  Cincinnati,  and  Professor 
Mitchell  were  each  claimants  for  the  invention 
of  a  machine  by  which  wonderful  accuracy  was 
obtained  both  in  measuring  time  and  circular  dis- 
tance. I  had  already  visited  Dr.  Locke  and  found 
him  very  communicative,  very  intelligent  and. very 
interesting,  and  not  at  all  sparing  in  his  denuncia- 
tions of  his  rival  in  his  '  'absurd"  claims  for  original- 
ity in  this  invention.  The  apparatus  in  both  cases 
was  connected  with  an  astronomical  clock  carried 
by  electricity.  But  I  will  go  on  with  my  story. 
Under  the  influence  of  some  men  of  leading  so- 
cial position  in  Boston,  who  had  been  reached  by 
letters  from  Prof.  Silliman,  who  had  previously 
lectured  in  Boston,  and  through  communications 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  199 

to  the  daily  newspapers,  Prof.  Mitchell  found, 
when  he  reached  his  audience  hall,  an  immense 
assemblage ;  seats  full  and  almost  every  standing 
place  filled.  The  aforesaid  Professors  were  not 
present.  Mitchell  felt  very  much  disappointed. 
He,  however,  proceeded  with  his  lecture  as  usual. 
He  had  not  occupied  many  minutes  before  he  no- 
ticed the  entrance  of  these  two  gentlemen  to 
whom  he  had  sent  a  polite  note  of  invitation. 
They  stood  in  a  very  remote  part  of  the  room 
and  as  far  in  the  shade  as  possible.  Prof.  Mitchell 
proceeded  with  his  lecture,  and,  I  am  sure,  if  his 
lecture  was  as  interesting  and  as  fascinating  as  his 
description  of  it,  he  must  have  brought  down  the 
house  over  and  over.  "All  the  time,"  said  he, 
"  I  was  making  my  advances  and  winning  the  ac- 
knowledgments of  my  audience  and  their  appre- 
ciation of  my  points,  I  was  slyly  viewing  the 
place  to  see  what  influence  it  would  have  upon  the 
Harvard  gentlemen."  He  took  his  hat,  as  he 
was  talking  to  me,  and  commenced  his  expla- 
nation that  he  had  then  given  to  his  audience, 
coming  by  degrees  to  the  final  irrefragable  demon- 
stration of  the  point,  that  he  could  measure,  instead 
of  the  one-tenth,  the  one-hundreth  part  of  a  second 
with  entire  accuracy.  He  continued :  "  As  I  was 
approaching  the  climax  I  noticed  the  people  were 
beginning  to  rise  and  reach  forward,  as  if  to  catch 
more  clearly  and  distinctly -my  line  of  argument. 
But  as  I  reached  my  final  declaration,  which  '  left 
not  a  loop  to  hang  a  lingering  doubt  upon, '  a  gen- 


2OO  REMINISCENCES. 

eral  storm  of  applause  burst  from  the  audience. 
Where  were  the  Professors  ?  They  had,  uncon- 
sciously to  me,  been  supplied  with  chairs.  Each 
of  them  stood  on  his  chair,  reaching  and  stretching 
his  neck,  and  clapping  for  his  life.  It  was  the  su- 
preme moment  of  my  existence.  The  Professors 
very  kindly  came  up  afterward  and  offered  me 
their  hands,  making  all  sorts  of  apologies  for  rais- 
ing a  question  as  to  my  claim  to  a  new  advance  in 
astronomical  precision." 

In  New  Orleans  I  presented  myself  without  let- 
ters of  introduction  to  Mr.  Shaw,  Superintendent 
of  Public  Schools  of  that  city.  He  had  been  ac- 
quainted with  my  father  in  Boston,  and  I  was  very 
cordially  received,  and  my  plans  for  introducing 
apparatus  into  the  public  school  system  furthered 
by  his  representations  in  my  behalf.  I  was  as- 
signed a  very  pleasant  room  in  the  City  Hall  for 
the  exhibition  of  my  apparatus,  and  was  visited 
by  several  members  of  the  board,  and  had  an  op- 
portunity to  explain  the  uses  of  different  articles 
of  apparatus  to  these  gentlemen.  When  the  sub- 
ject came  before  the  board  for  action,  thirty  sets 
were  purchased.  While  the  matter  was  pending, 
I  had  an  opportunity  to  visit  the  different  institu- 
tions and  different  points  of  interest  in  New  Or- 
leans. I  found  Dr.  Olmstead,  a  former  pupil, 
who  was  practicing  medicine  in  the  suburbs. 
His  acquaintance  in  the  city  rendered  my  visit  more 
satisfactory  by  far  than  it  would  otherwise  have 
been.  With  him  I  visited  the  slave  market  and  at- 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  2OI 

tended  a  slave  auction.  With  him  I  also  visited  the 
cotton  market  and  witnessed  the  operations  in  that 
arena.  Through  his  influence  I  was  invited  to  the 
homes  of  several  Southern  men,  both  in  the  city 
and  in  the  suburbs.  All  represented  New  Orleans 
as  a  good  place  in  which  to  make  money,  but  not 
a  place  where  any  one  would  desire  to  raise  a  fam- 
ily. After  moving  my  boarding  place  several 
times,  from  one  hotel  to  another,  for  the  purpose 
of  becoming  better  acquainted  with  Southern 
people  and  Southern  usages,  I  secured  board  at 
last  with  a  Mrs.  Drake  on  Tchoupitoulas  Street. 
She  occupied  three  or  four  buildings,  arranged 
in  continuity,  and,  perhaps,  had  the  most 
fashionable  business  boarding-house  in  the  city. 
Her  boarders  were  chiefly  from  Boston,  and,  so 
far  as  my  acquaintance  extended  among  them, 
they  were  courteous  and  communicative. 

Being,  for  the  time,  the  last  arrival,  I  was  seated 
at  the  table  in  the  place  of  honor,  next  to  our 
hostess.  As  is  true  of  the  great  majority  of  Southern 
ladies,  Mrs.  Drake  was  an  excellent  conversa- 
tionalist, and  while  ready  at  replying  to  my  objec- 
tions to  Southe-rn  life  and  Southern  usages,  and 
especially  to  that  of  the  Southern  institution, 
slavery,  she  was  equally  ready  on  stating  objec- 
tions to  all  Northern  usages,  and  especially  to  our 
position  on  the  aforesaid  Southern  institution. 
She  represented  that  her  servants  were  the  most 
happy  and  contented  class  of  people — and  she  em 
ployed  a  dozen  or  more  —  that  could  be  found,  and 


2O2  REMINISCENCES. 

that  she  had  recently  made  a  fine  wedding  for  one 
of  her  servant  girls  with  the  head  butler  of  her  es- 
tablishment, whom  she  had  hired  of  a  neighbor.  I 
don't  remember  how  much  she  said  the  wedding 
cost  her,  but  it  was  a  considerable  amount  more 
than  is  often  spent  by  respectable  families  in  the 
North  for  a  daughter's  wedding.  She  had  been 
the  wife  of  a  physician  of  South  Carolina,  who 
owned  a  plantation  adjoining  that  of  John  C.  Cal- 
houn.  He  had,  however,  sold  his  plantation  and 
invested  the  avails  in  banking  in  New  Orleans. 
Here  he  had  been  unsuccessful,  had  failed  and 
died,  leaving  her  with  little  or  nothing,  to  take  care 
of  herself  and  educate  her  children.  She  expressed 
the  warmest  admiration  for  John  C.  Calhoun  as  a 
citizen,  slave-holder  and  Christian.  "And,"  said 
she,  "Mr.  Calhoun  sacrificed  more  for  his  thirty 
or  more  servants  than  any  Northern  man — I  might 
say,  than  all  Northern  men — have  sacrificed  to  ben- 
efit the  colored  population  of  the  South.  For 
instance,  he  built  a  continuous  line  of  brick  tene- 
ments, sufficient  to  accommodate  all  the  families  of 
his  plantation,  at  an  expense  of  $25,000  or  more, 
and  furnished  them  in  a  manner  more  comfortable, 
I  apprehend,  than  the  majority  of  the  tenements 
and  homes  of  laborers  at  the  North.  Unfortu- 
nately, however,  the  negroes,  fearing  the  depreda- 
tions of  each  other,  or  of  negroes  in  the  adjacent 
plantations,  shut  themselves  at  night  so  closely  as 
to  bring  upon  themselves  a  contagious  disease,  by 
which  a  number  of  them  were  swept  off.  Again, 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  2O3 

to  save  the  remainder,  he  erected  other  cabins  and 
permitted  his  line  of  brick  tenements  to  go  to 
wreck.  He  thus  proved  that,  beyond  a  certain  limit, 
it  is  worse  than  useless  to  expend  money  on  the 
negro.  But  whatever  can  be  spent,  and  whatever 
advantages  can  safely  be  bestowed  upon  the  slave 
population,  I  believe  for  the  most  part  —  I  admit 
there  are  exceptions  —  are  bestowed  upon  negroes 
for  their  health,  for  their  religious  enlightenment 
and  for  their  prosperity.  In  fact,  if  there  can  be 
found  a  corresponding  population  in  the  North  — 
I  do  not  think  there  can  be,  in  regard  to  content, 
and  industry  and  satisfaction  with  their  state,  it 
is  my  opinion,  having  traveled  in  the  North  very 
considerably,  that  the  slaves  are  better  provided  for, 
more  are  converted  and  saved,  than  in  the  corre- 
sponding laboring  population  of  the  North." 

Her  denunciations  of  the  Abolitionists  were 
bitter  and  endless.  But  especially  did  she  declare 
that  if  she  could  get  that  black-hearted  Abolition- 
ist, Giddings,  under  her  power,  she  would  show 
him  as  little  mercy  as  he  was  exhibiting  toward 
the  slave-holding  population  in  the  South.  "Why, " 
said  she,  "I  really  believe  that  if  he  could  have 
his  own  way,  he  would  incite  the  negroes  to  rise 
and  murder  every  one  of  us."  "But,"  said  I, 
"  Madam,  it  may  be  my  misfortune  that  I  live  in 
the  vicinity  of  Joshua  R.  Giddings.  Though  I 
have  only  known  him  as  a  public  speaker,  having 
no  personal  acquaintance,  from  all  I  do  know  of  him 
as  a  citizen,  he  is  a  public-spirited  gentleman,  and 


2O4  REMINISCENCES. 

enjoys  the  confidence  and  respect  of  all  his 
neighbors.  He  secures  the  largest  majority  in 
his  Congressional  district  of  almost  any  man  in 
^the  North,  and  except  among  the  lowest  class  of 
our  population,  the  saloon  men  and  their  abettors, 
he  enjoys  an  enviable  and  unimpeachable  reputa- 
tion." 

This  Mrs.  Drake  was  a  lady,  and  there  was 
a  bitter  contest  going  on  in  her  mind  between 
her  desire  to  annihilate  the  Abolitionist  and  to 
treat  me  with  the  respect  which  she  always  gave 
to  strangers,  and,  I  suppose,  to  friends.  I  hardly 
ventured  so  far  as  to  say  that  I  was  one  of  Joshua 
R.  Giddings'  constituents,  and  had  given  my  vote 
to  send  him  to  Congress.  A  circumstance  which 
occurred,  however,  in  Painesville,  O.,  with  which 
I  was  conversant,  I  made  use  of  in  such  a  way  as 
I  thought  would  interest  rather  than  offend  her. 

My  story  ran  thus:  "We  had  an  interesting 
Abolitionist  lecturer  passing  through  Northern 
Ohio.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  him 
twice.  He  was,  however,  of  Southern  birth,  the 
natural  son  of  Governor  Mason,  of  Virginia;  he 
called  himself  by  the  name  of  his  father  and  former 
master.  He  secured  crowded  audiences  wherever 
he  went ;  his  natural  oratory  carried  conviction 
even  to  those  most  opposed  to  his  views,  and  his 
representations  of  his  own  disabilities  and  suffer- 
ings from  the  '  sacred  institution  '  enlisted  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  most  obdurate.  I  will  not  give  his 
history,  but  will  only  narrate  an  incident  in  his 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND. 

Northern  life.  Making  Painesviljie  his  headquarters 
with  his  family,  which  he  had  redeemed  from 
slavery,  he  joined  the  Congregational  Church  of 
the  town.  He  was  accustomed  to  attend  the 
Thursday  evening  prayer-meeting.  A  noted  slave- 
catcher  of  Virginia,  having  heard  of  his  where- 
abouts, and  having  come  to  Painesville  with  a  gang 
of  six  men,  was  tracking  Mason,  to  find  a  favorable 
opportunity  in  which  to  seize  and  manacle  him  and 
to  restore  him  to  his  legal  owner,  one  of  the  heirs  of 
Gov.  Mason,  for  which,  of  course,  he  expected 
a  large  reward.  The  time  selected  for  the  seizure 
of  his  victim  was  on  his  return  home  from  prayer- 
meeting,  as  it  was  discovered  that  he  went 
through  an  unfrequented  and  unlighted  street. 
Armed  to  the  teeth  the  gang  surrounded  and 
rushed  upon  Mason  ;  three  or  four  of  them  seized 
him  and  attempted  to  throttle  him  in  order  to 
handcuff  him,  bind  him  and  take  him  in  the  vehi- 
cle already  provided,  beyond  reach  of  any  hope  of 
release  and  relief.  Mason,  being  a  powerful  man, 
and  his  liberty  being  at  stake  —  which  he  declared 
he  valued  more  than  life  —  he  was  enabled  to  hurl 
the  ruffians  in  all  directions  and  to  jump  upon  the 
man  whom  he  at  once  recognized  as  the  chief  kid- 
napper. He  then  ran  and  escaped,  not  going  to 
his  home  at  all,  but  rushing  away  in  the  dark  ;  he 
found  the  lake  shore  as  speedily  as  possible,  went 
aboard  of  a  sloop  and  went  to  Canada.  The  kid- 
napper upon  which  this  man,  weighing  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pouuds,  had  jumped,  found  him- 


2O6  REMINISCENCES. 

self  disabled  with  fractured  ribs.  He  was  taken  to 
the  hotel  and  left  there.  The  other  ruffians  at 
once  made  their  escape  for  fear  of  arrest  for  kid- 
napping, leaving  him  with  little  money  and  no 
friends,  and  liable  to  arrest,  for  the  onslaught  had 
been  observed  by  several  witnesses.  Now,  Madam, 
who  do  you  think  ministered  to  the  wants  of  this 
crushed  and  miserable  wretch?  Who  do  you  think 
carried  him  supplies  and  food  ?  Who  do  you  think 
employed  a  physician  to  set  his  bones,  and  assured 
the  hotel-keeper  that  the  bills  would  be  paid?  In 
short,  who  do  you  think  took  care  of  this  desper- 
ado in  his  extremity?  Was  it  your  friends,  so 
called,  in  the  North?"  Said  she:  "I  suppose 
you  wish  me  to  understand  that  it  was  the  Repub- 
licans?" "  Most  assuredly,"  said  I,  "  It  was  the 
wives  of  these  same  '  black-hearted  Abolitionists  ' 
who  cared  for  him,  and  when  the  kidnapper  was 
sufficiently  recovered  to  leave,  the  bills  were  paid 
and  he  was  furnished  money  enough  to  return 
to  Virginia  by  these  same  women."  Said  I, 
"Madam,  the  South  are  truly  mistaken  in  their 
views  with  regard  to  the  intentions  and  purposes 
of  the  Abolitionists.  If  you  will  permit  me  to  say, 
and  will  not  be  offended,  I  will  state  that  I  have 
been  an  Abolitionist  and  voted  the  Abolition 
ticket,  and  voted  for  James  G.  Burney.  My  posi- 
tion in  regard  to  slavery  is  this,  not  that  I  have  any 
special  admiration  for  the  colored  population,  either 
North  or  South.  It,  is  true,  I  would  have  them 
have  their  rights  and  opportunities  to  be  prepared 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  2O/ 

for  citizenship,  but  my  chief  interest  and  aim  in  all 
Abolition  movements  is  to  save  the  white  popula- 
tion of  the  South  from  the  degradation  which 
slavery  inflicts.  For,  through  all  my  acquaintance 
with  Southern  men  —  and  I  have  known  a  great 
many  —  the  evils  of  slavery  fall  immensely  more 
heavily  upon  the  white  families,  their  sons,  and  I 
may  say,  the  daughters,  of  the  South,  than  upon 
the  negroes,  in  the  fact,  the  idleness  imposed 
upon  the  young  men,  in  consequence  of  the  dis- 
grace of  labor,  brings  upon  the  South  and  upon  all 
its  families  the  inevitable  evils  which  would  be  re- 
moved by  a  necessity  for  industry."  This  was  as 
far  in  discussing  this  subject  as  I  wished  to  go  with 
this  highly  accomplished,  intelligent,  and,  as  I  be- 
lieve, most  worthy  Christian  woman.  I  must  con- 
clude my  narration  in  regard  to  her,  however,  by 
saying  that  my  confession  that  I  was  one  of  those 
"  black-hearted  Abolitionists"  did  not  seem  to 
diminish  her  kindness  and  attention  to  me  per- 
sonally. 

I  was  informed  by  Superintendent  Shaw  that  the 
Catholics  of  New  Orleans  had  a  distinct  set  of 
schools  for  Catholic  children,  and  that  the  parents 
in  confession  were  required  to  tell  where  their 
children  attended  school.  But  in  passing  through 
the  various  school  buildings,  I  discovered  in  nearly 
every  room  more  or  less  Irish  children.  Remark- 
ing to  Superintendent  Shaw  that  I  thought  that 
the  control  of  the  priests  over  the  parents  was 
not  very  stringent,  he  replied  that  undoubtedly  the 


2O8  REMINISCENCES. 

mothers,  in  giving  their  confessions,  stated  that 
their  children  attended  Catholic  schools.  In  a 
sense  this  was  true,  as  the  children  were  absent 
generally  about  two  half  days  each  week  from  the 
public  schools,  and  this  was  condoned  by  the 
teachers  under  the  direction  of  the  board.  Thus, 
while  the  mothers  were  able,  in  their  confessions, 
to  state  that  their  children  were  attending  the 
parochial  schools  of  the  Catholic  Church,  they 
were,  in  fact,  regular  attendants,  with  these  ex- 
ceptions, in  the  public  schools  almost  universally 
throughout  the  city.  This  may  be  taken  as  a  sample 
of  the  truthfulness  of  the  Catholic  confessional, 
and  really  of  the  lax  control  of  the  priests  over 
their  parishioners. 

The  most  able  Methodist  preacher  that  I  heard 
while  in  New  Orleans,  was  Dr.  C ,  from  Ver- 
mont, who  had  been  there  some  months.  His  his- 
tory and  the  occasion  of  his  being  in  New  Orleans 
seem  worth  relating.  Being  a  presiding  elder  in  the 
North,  a  man  of  first-class  ability,  he  wielded  a  wide- 
spread influence  in  every  department  of  the  Meth- 
odist denomination.  His  wife  was  a  devout  and 
earnest  Christian  ;  she  conceived  that  she  was  the 
recipient  of  direct  communications  from  the  spirit 
world.  Among  other  impressions  that  she  received 
from  these  heavenly  messengers  was,  that  on  a 
certain  day,  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  she  was  to 
die  and.be  translated  at  once.  The  impression  was 
so  decided,  and  her  conviction  so  positive,  that  she 
communicated  it  to  her  husband,  persuading  and 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  2Op 

convincing  him  of  the  truthfulness  of  this  spiritual 
revelation.  She  entreated  her  husband  to  make 
all  necessary  arrangements  for  her  departure,  and 
begged  of  him  to  place  their  three  children  in 
charge  of  a  niece  who  had  lived  with  them  some 
length  of  time.  The  plan  was  opened  up  to  the 
niece  and  gained  her  assent,  and  even  went  so  far, 
under  the  expressed  wish  of  the  wife,  as  to  have 
it  understood,  that,  in  due  time,  she  should  take 
the  position  of  mother  to  their  children.  Through 
the  young  lady  and  her  confidences  with  her  lady 
friends,  the  matter  leaked  out  and  became  subject 
of  general  gossip.  It  did  not  seem  to  excite  any 
inimical  remark,  nor  to  impair  the  influence  of 
the  worthy  presiding  elder,  but  all  seemed  to  be 
convinced  that  the  impression  of  the  good  wife  and 
mother  was  really  of  heavenly  origin.  The  time 
approached.  The  wife  was  in  her  usual  health. 
She  was  of  the  opinion  that  she  was  to  be  taken 
at  the  appointed  time.  The  time  arrived  —  but 
she  didn't  die  and  she  couldn't  die.  And  the  dis- 
appointment of  all  parties,  of  the  good  Methodist 
people,  of  the  presiding  elder,  and  of  the  young  lady 
whose  prospects  were  thus  blighted,  were  intense 
and  immense.  The  result  was  that  the  reverend  doc- 
tor was  compelled  to  abandon  his  work  and  seek  an- 
other home.  He  found  it  with  his  wife,  and 
was  preaching  with  great  power,  satisfaction  and 
success  in  New  Orleans:  The  story  I  obtained 
from  one  of  my  pupils  afterward,  who  was  familiar 
with  all  the  circumstances  in  the  North. 
14 


2IO  REMINISCENCES. 

While  in  New  Orleans,  I  suffered  severely  with 
cholera.  This  was  in  1851.  While  walking  on 
Canal  Street,  one  morning  about  ten  o'clock,  I  was 
attacked  as  if  by  an  instantaneous  shock.  I  had 
had  one  siege  of  cholera  in  Canada,  three  years 
before,  and  had  just  escaped  with  my  life,  but  I 
had  learned  to  manage  myself.  I  staggered  into  a 
bath-house  just  near  me,  and  called  for  a  hot  bath 
and  a  glass  of  brandy,  and  with  all  speed,  with  the 
little  strength  I  had  left,  I  let  the  hot  water  in 
upon  me,  sipping  every  few  moments  from  the 
brandy.  I  continued,  perhaps,  half  an  hour,  per- 
haps longer,  in  the  hot  bath,  just  as  hot  as  I  could 
bear  it  without  scalding,  until  I  felt  the  perspira- 
tion running  down  my  forehead.  I  then  knew  that 
I  was  safe  from  that  attack,  but  felt  it  imperatively 
necessary  for  me  to  leave  New  Orleans  at  once. 
Advertisements  were  out  for  two  boats  to  leave 
that  day  for  St.  Louis.  I  visited  the  boats  and 
found  the  "  Grand  Turk"  about  to  start  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  passage  was  $12. 
The  boat  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  very  desirable 
one,  and  I  was  assured  that  the  passengers  were 
of  the  most  respectable  character  and  that  all  the 
berths  had  been  engaged  except  one  or  two.  It 
occurred  to  me  that  it  would  be  better,  before  pay- 
ing for  a  berth,  to  visit  the  other  boat,  the  "  Alex. 
Scott."  I  found  an  equally  respectable  boat,  the 
charge  $20,  and  few  berths  engaged.  I  concluded 
it  would  be  the  best  for  me,  under  the  circum- 
stances, to  take  the  boat  which  was  least  crowded 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  211 

and  pay  a  higher  price.  The  boat  started  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening.  In,  the  course  of  the  trip 
up  the  river  we  passed  the  "  Grand  Turk,"  as  it 
stopped  at  intervening  ports  much  more  fre- 
quently than  the  "Alex.  Scott."  Being  hailed, 
it  was  reported  that  all  was  well.  On  the  day 
after  we  arrived  at  St.  Louis,  however,  it  was  re- 
ported that  the  "Grand  Turk"  had  gone  into 
quarantine  with  fourteen  cases  of  cholera  on  board, 
having  had  twenty-one  deaths  on  the  way  up.  I 
then  thought  that  I  had  been  providentially  guided 
in  taking  passage  upon  the  "Alex  Scott." 

On  the  trip  I  met  with  Mr.  Chouteau,  of  St. 
Louis,  with  whom  I  formed  a  very  agreeable 
acquaintance.  The  ground  of  our  acquaintance 
was  our  sympathy  in  mineralogy.  I  had  collected, 
at  New  Orleans,  from  the  'wharves  and  other 
sources,  a  very  considerable  little  cabinet  of  min- 
erals, and  exhibiting  them  to  one  of  the  passen- 
gers, and  explaining  how  I  had  obtained  one  and 
another,  and  another,  and  where  each  of  these 
minerals  was  found,  insitu,  Mr.  Chouteau  happened 
to  overhear  our  conversation,  and  immediately 
formed  one  of  our  party.  I  found  him  a  very 
ready  conversationalist  and  an  intelligent  mineral- 
ogist. I  will  give  some  of  his  statements  which 
were  at  the  time  to  me  very  interesting.  On  a 
tract  of  land  in  Missouri,  which  he  had  received  as 
part  of  his  patrimony,  he  had  discovered  a  lead 
mine,  and  had  excavated  and  reduced  a  large 
quantity  of  ore,  producing  many  tons  of  lead. 


212  REMINISCENCES. 

Now,  one  of  the  chief  uses  of  lead  is  in  making- 
glass.  He  sold  several  tons  of  his  lead  thus  ob- 
tained to  a  glass  firm  in  Louisville.  They  informed 
him  that  the  lead  he  had  furnished  was  useless,  as 
it  colored  all  the  glass  purple.  He  at  once  em- 
ployed an  assayist  to  determine  what  was  the  in- 
gredient in  the  lead  ore  which  rendered  his 
lead  unsalable.  The  assayist  found  a  consider- 
able proportion  of  oxide  of  cobalt.  Now,  this 
oxide  was  found  in  the  mineral  in  such  proportions 
that  it  was  more  valuable  than  the  lead  itself, 
when  separated.  It  was  used  extensively  in  the 
potteries  of  England  for  coloring  the  enamel  blue. 
Having  learned  by  his  correspondence  the  value 
of  this  mineral  in  London,  as  furnished  to  various 
potteries,  he  chartered  a  ship  at  New  Orleans,  and, 
by  means  of  steamboats,  loaded  the  ship  with  ore 
of  lead  and  cobalt.  He  went  on  the  same  ship  to 
Liverpool  and  opened  a  correspondence  with  the 
principal  potteries  of  England,  informing  them 
of  the  material  he  had  and  of  its  proportions  of 
both  lead  and  cobalt,  the  lead  more  than  paying- 
for  the  reduction.  Before,  however,  he  had  re- 
ceived any  definite  reply  or  orders  from  any  of 
these  establishments,  he  found  that  they  had  been 
corresponding  with  each  other,  and  agreed  to  give 
him  half  a  cent  a  pound,  instead  of  two  cents,  as 
he  had  proposed.  After  having  visited  them  sep- 
arately, and  finding  that  there  was  no  breaking  the 
league,  he  went  aboard  the  ship  and  departed  to 
New  Orleans,  taking  his  ore  with  him.  Before 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  213 

he  reached  New  Orleans,  however,  orders  had 
been  sent  to  St.  Louis  to  his  address,  calling  for 
many  times  as  much  of  the  material  as  he  had  ex- 
ported to  England  and  back  again,  and  at  his  own 
price. 

While  I  was  in  New  Orleans  there  was  a  Wm. 
McKinney  there  in  business,  who  afterward  mar- 
riee  my  cousin,  Miss  Catherine  Coe.  The  same 
year  he  closed  business  in  that  city,  and  in  coming 
up  the  river,  the  boat  was  burned  on  which  he  had 
taken  passage.  Not  being  able  to  reach  a  landing 
place,  the  passengers  were  obliged  to  jump  over- 
board. Among  the  rest  was  a  German  who  had  a 
considerable  amount  of  gold.  He  tied  his  gold 
in  a  handkerchief,  and  with  another  handkerchief 
around  his  neck.  McKinney  assured  him  that  he 
could  not  swim  with  that  gold  ;  he  would  certainjy 
go  to  the  bottom.  "  No  matter, "  said  the  German, 
"if  my  gold  is  gone  I  may  as  well  go  myself." 
So  over  he  went  into  the  water,  and  was  never 
seen  more.  Whether  his  handkerchief  of  gold  was 
ever  fished  up,  I  am  not  able  to  say.  Mr.  McKin- 
ney himself  jumped  over,  with  his  drafts  for  $5,000 
in  his  pocket;  as  he  rose  to  the  surface  he  was 
seized  by  another  passenger,  who  said  he  could 
not  swim.  Feeling  that  it  was  a  matter  of  life 
and  death  for  both  of  them,  he  was  compelled  to 
beat  the  individual  off  by  striking  him  in  the  face. 
Being  a  good  swimmer,  he  reached  land,  but  it 
was  a  very  narrow  escape.  With  many  doubts 
and  some  compunctions,  I  have  heard  him  narrate 


214  REMINISCENCES. 

the  fact  to  several  private  audiences.  I  ought  here 
to  say  that  Mr.  McKinney  was  one  of  the  most 
considerate  and  humane  of  men. 

On  reaching  St.  Louis,  I  thought  it  advisable  to 
visit  several  cousins  who  lived  at  Marine  Settle- 
ment, about  30  miles  east  of  St.  Louis  in  Illinois. 
This  was  on  the  line  of  the  [Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Railway,  which  was  not  then  sufficiently  completed 
for  the  conveyance  of  passengers.  Consequently  I 
made  my  journey  in  a  stage  coach,  over  the  seven- 
mile  bottom  of  the  Mississippi  River.  In  conversa- 
tion with  some  passengers,  about  the  overflow  of 
the  Mississippi,  it  was  remarked  that  there  had 
been  no  overflow  for  several  years,  but  that  on  an 
average,  the  entire  bottom  was  placed  underwater, 
from  two  to  five  feet  deep,  once  in  seven  years.  I 
completed  my  trip ;  the  rain  was  falling  steadily 
all  the  way.  I  thought  it  necessary  to  return  and 
make  business  arrangements  in  St.  Louis.  I 
reached  Illinoistown  just  in  time  to  take  the  last 
boat  that  went  to  St.  Louis  that  night ;  the  whole 
country,  at  this  time,  being  submerged  by  the 
rising  flood.  Next  morning,  going  to  the  observ- 
atory of  the  hotel,  I  saw  the  entire  bottom,  as  far 
as  eye  could  reach,  up  and  down  the  river,  covered 
with  the  swelling  flood.  It  was  a  fearful  sight, 
considering  the  immense  damage  done  to  houses, 
stock  and  other  property. 

I  made,  while  visiting  in  St.  Louis,  acquaint- 
ance with  many  of  the  city  teachers  in  the 
public  schools,  and  with  Mr.  Edward  Wyman,. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  21$ 

who  was  in  charge  of  a  very  popular  private  insti- 
tution for  boys.  He  was  preparing  for  a  grand 
exhibition  and  procession,  and  semi-military  dis- 
play of  his  school.  It  came  off  while  I  was  there. 
Being  an  invited  guest,  I  went  with  the  procession 
to  a  suburban  garden,  and  enjoyed  the  occasion 
with  its  festivities  and  demonstrations,  as  an  ob- 
server rather  than  a?  a  participator  in  the  various 
sports  and  games  in  which  the  boys  delighted 
themselves  in  the  garden. 

The  Principal  of  one  of  the  public  schools  gave 
me  an  interesting  account  of  his  listening  to  Jenny 
Lind,  who  had  been  in  the  city  just  before  I  ar- 
rived. My  friend  was  enjoying  a  salary  of  $i,  500 
a  year,  which  was  a  meager  income  for  himself 
and  wife.  Said  he,  "  I  made  up  my  mind  before 
Jenny  Lind  came  here,  that  it  would  be  beyond 
my  means  to  purchase  tickets  at  the  crazy  prices 
at  which  they  were  selling,  but  as  all  my  friends 
and  everybody  else  of  any  respectability  were 
buying  tickets,  I  concluded  it  would  be  better  and 
safer  for  me  to  go.  But  it  cost  me  $14  to  hear 
Jenny  Lind  the  first  night  she  was  in  St.  Louis, 
and  this  extravagance  was  really  against  my  judg- 
ment and  my  preference.  Tickets  for  the  second 
night  had  much  increased  in  price,  but  I  went  the 
second  night  and  paid  my  $20,  not  because  I  had 
to,  but  because  I  wanted  to." 

Being  in  New  Orleans  during  the  last  week  of 
April,  strawberries  were  upon  the  table,  but  for 
the  last  time  of  the  season.  Before  I  left  the  city 


2l6  REMINISCENCES. 

'they  had  disappeared.  Arriving  in  St.  Louis, 
the  first  thing  that  was  presented  to  me  as  a  guest, 
was  a  plate  of  most  luscious  strawberries.  The 
week  after,  when  spending  a  few  days  in  Cincin- 
nati, the  common  dessert  at  the  hotel  was  straw- 
berries. When  I  arrived  at  Kirtland,  the  following 
week,  strawberries  were  scarcely  yet  in  bloom. 
So  that  I  had  my  turn  of  strawberries  at  home  in 
due  time,  but  my  family  thought,  that  as  I  had  my 
rations  of  strawberries  previously  to  that,  I  could 
well  afford  to  let  them  have  whatever  came,  to 
themselves — to  which  I  readily  assented. 

In  commencing  work  in  the  Western  Reserve 
Teachers'  Seminary,  I  took  the  department  of 
mathematics.  All  this  work  was,  so  far  as  prac- 
ticable, assigned  to  me,  in  making  up  the  general 
programme.  Other  teachers  took  literature  and 
language.  It  was  amusing  to  me  to  learn,  per- 
haps by  overhearing,  and  perhaps  by  direct  state- 
ment, that,  "while  Holbrook  was  considered 
first-rate  in  mathematics,  it  was  thought  he  didn't 
amount  to  much  in  any  other  line  of  study  and  in- 
struction." This  was  the  more  amusing  as  I  had 
heard  the  same  remark  made  with  regard  to  Hol- 
brook in  Berea,  in  reference  to  his  skill  as  a 
teacher  of  languages.  "Holbrook  is  first-rate  in  lan- 
guages, but  I  don't  believe  he  knows  much  in  any 
other  department."  On  coming  to  Lebanon,  the 
same  line  of  remark  was  not  uncommon,  but  was 
varied  thus  :  ' '  That  Holbrook  was  really  very  good 
in  natural  sciences,  but  no  one  supposed  that  he 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  2 1/ 

was  very  well  versed  in  any  other  branch."  The 
truth  being,  that  whatever  Holbrook  undertook, 
he  tried  to  make  so  much  more  emphatic,  im- 
pressive and  successful  than  anything  else  that  was 
done  in  any  other  direction,  that  it  seemed  to  him 
and  to  others,  for  the  time  being,  that  there  was 
nothing  else  in  any  direction  of  equal  importance 
with  the  work  in  which  he  was  then  engaged. 

A  young  man  by  the  name  of  Giddings,  who 
had  been  formerly  a  pupil  of  mine  in  Berea,  and 
had  left  me,  and  had  come  to  Kirtland  for  the 
reason,  as  he  said,  that  he  could  not  learn  arith- 
metic under  my  instruction,  but  had  succeeded 
admirably  under  the  instruction  of  Dr.  Lord,  was 
now  in  attendance  at  Kirtland.  Being  somewhat 
curious  to  know  in  what  Dr.  Lord  had  excelled 
me,  in  reaching  Giddings'  case,  and  inquiring  of 
Giddings  as  to  why  he  preferred  Dr.  Lord,  and 
succeeded  with  him  and  made  no  progress  with 
me,  he  told  me,  he  could  understand  the  subject 
with  Dr.  Lord,  but  could  not  with  me.  Whether 
Dr.  Lord  had  informed  him  before  or  afterward 
of  his  own  difficulty  in  comprehending  mathe- 
matics, I  do  not  know,  but  this  is  the  statement  I 
received  from  Dr.  Lord  in  regard  to  his  own  apti- 
tude in  mathematics.  Said  he:  "I  was  dull 
enough  in  all  branches,  but  especially  in  arithme- 
tic and  algebra.  My  teachers  gave  me  up  almost 
as  impracticable,  but  by  dint  of  continued  effort  in 
having  most  of  the  examples  wrought  for  me  by 
other  pupils,  or  by  taking  them  down  in  recita- 


2l8  REMINISCENCES. 

tion,  I  had  recorded  in  a  proper  note-book  the 
solution  of  every  question  in  every  text-book 
which  I  had  ever  studied  during  my  course  of  in- 
struction. And  even  with  my  classes,  as  teacher,  it 
is  necessary  to  resolve  every  question  in  arithmetic 
and  algebra,  before  trusting  myself  in  giving  in- 
struction to  ordinary  classes  of  young  people." 
My  inference  was,  at  the  time,  that  my  failure 
with  Giddings  and  many  others,  was  from  the  fact 
of  my  own  celerity  in  grasping  mathematical  cal- 
culations, and  my  consequent  impatience  with 
pupils.  It  taught  me  a  valuable  lesson,  not  only 
in  teaching  mathematics,  but  in  every  other  line 
of  my  work,  that  a  quick  thinker  needs  to  be  con- 
stantly on  his  guard  against  impatience  in  ener- 
gizing those  of  slower  mold.  Giddings  came  again 
into  my  algebra  class,  and  under  the  influence  of 
my  new  conception  of  my  inefficiency  and  incom- 
petency  to  teach  mathematics  to  slow  minds,  and 
my  determination  to  reach  even  the  slowest  cases, 
Giddings  acknowledged  that  he  found  me  a  very 
satisfactory  teacher.  In  this,  I  was  very  much 
encouraged,  and  not  a  little  elated. 

In  one  of  the  recitations  of  my  teachers'  arithmetic 
class,  I  exhibited  three  methods  of  dividing  one  frac- 
tion by  another,  and,  presenting  them  to  the  class,  I 
desired  them  to  bring  in  the  demonstration  the 
next  day.  Mr.  Edson,  a  gentleman  older  than 
myself,  and  a  popular  teacher  of  the  public  schools, 
in  the  country  round  about,  arose,  and  securing  an 
opportunity  to  speak,  said,  "Mr.  Holbrook,  are 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  219 

these  the  only  methods  that  you  know  of,  of  divid- 
ing one  fraction  by  another?"  It  was  more  in  the 
tone  in  which  the  question  was  asked,  than,  per- 
haps, the  question  itself,  that  roused  me  somewhat 
to  indignation;  and  yet,  knowing  Mr.  Edson  to  be 
one  of  the  most  loyal  and  earnest  of  my  pupils, 
there  was  no  sufficient  cause  for  resentment.  I 
held  myself  as  well  as  I  was  able  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, and  thinking  a  moment  replied  :  "Mr. 
Edson,  I  will  give  you  from  this  to  next  Monday 
(it  was  then  Friday)  to  master  all  the  methods 
that  you  can  discover  or  invent,  for  dividing  one 
fraction  by  another,  and  will  give  you  the  first  op- 
portunity, on  Monday,  of  presenting  them  to  the 
class.  After  you  have  exhausted  all  your  methods, 
I  will  present  as  many  more  different  methods  of 
dividing  one  fraction  by  another,  as  you  may  be 
able  to  give  and  demonstrate.  Not  only  so,"  I 
added,  "but  I  will  give  you  the  use  of  my  library, 
and  I  think,  doubtless,  Dr.  Nicholls  will  give  you 
the  use  of  his.  I  am  willing  you  should  get  all  the 
help  you  can  from  Dr.  Nicholls  himself,  and  from 
any  other  quarter,  and  still  I  will  give  as  many 
more  different  methods  of  dividing  one  fraction  by 
another  as  you  may  be  able  to  give  in  any  amount 
of  study  you  may  give  outside,  or  from  any 
amount  of  help  you  may  obtain." 

The  class,  consisting  of  eighty  or  so,  of  course, 
were  much  excited,  and  no  doubt  sympathized 
with  Mr.  Edson.  He  was  a  popular  student.  They 
thought  I  had  involved  myself  in  a  losing  game. 


22O  REMINISCENCES. 

On  Monday,  at  the  usual  hour,  the  class  as- 
sembled, and  as  many  others  as  could  find  space, 
in  the  recitation-room,  to  witness  the  result  of  the 
contest  between  pupil  and  teacher.  Mr.  Edson 
presented  six  new  methods,  in  addition  to  those 
which  I  had  presented,  with  satisfactory  demon- 
stration. At  the  close  of  his  effort,  I  asked  the 
pupils  if  they  were  satisfied  that  he  had  given  new 
and  different  demonstrations,  different  from  each 
other,  and  different  from  those  which  I  had  pre- 
sented. They  all  expressed  their  assent;  I  took 
my  place  at  the  board,  and  presented  at  once  six 
other  methods,  and  gave  my  demonstrations.  I 
asked  Mr.  Edson  if  these  were  different,  and  clearly 
demonstrated.  He  said,  "Entirely  so."  "Are 
you  satisfied,  Mr.  Edson?"  "Yes,  sir."  "But, 
Mr.  Edson,  I  have  six  more ;  would  you  like  to 
see  them?"  "Yes,  sir."  I  immediately  pro- 
ceeded to  present  six  more  methods  with  their 
demonstrations,  asking  the  class  each  time  if  the 
method  was  satisfactory  and  different  from  any- 
thing that  had  been  given  before.  Each  of  these 
was  so  received.  At  last  I  said,  "  Mr.  Edson,  are 
you  satisfied?"  He  replied,  "I  am  more  than 
satisfied;  I  give  up.  I  don't  want  any  more." 
"But,  Mr.  Edson,"  said  I,  "I  have  twelve  more 
to  present."  "But,"  said  he,  "I  don't  want  any 
more,  I  have  enough."  "Very  well,"  said  I,  "if 
you  are  satisfied  we  will  not  have  any  more ;  we 
will  proceed  with  the  recitation." 

Mr.  Edson  came  to  me  and  apologized  for  his 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  221 

abruptness,  and  we  are  to-day,  as  we  were  ever 
afterward,  the  best  of  friends.     Not  long  since,  a 
pupil,  who  had  gone  to  Michigan  on  an  agency, 
had  the  same  story  to  tell,  as  he  obtained  it  from 
Mr.  Edson,  who  is  now  in  Michigan  in  business. 
During  my  connection  with  the  Teachers'  Sem- 
inary, the  school  increased  rapidly,  there   being 
about  250  in  actual  attendance  at  our  last  session. 
I  had  previously  had  a  call  to  go  to  Marlborough, 
and  take  the  Principalship  of  the  public  schools  of 
that  town.    Two,  of  the  six  Trustees  of  the  Union 
School  District  had  been  pupils  of  mine  at  Berea — 
Mr.   Abram   Wileman  and    Mr.   Amos    Walton. 
Feeling  that  there  was  one  part  of  the  work  of 
training    teachers    with   which    I    was    not    suffi- 
ciently familiar  by  actual  practice,  namely,  that  of 
superintendency,    I  accepted  the  invitation,   and 
quietly  made  my  arrangements  to  leave  Kirtland 
at  the  close  of  the  school,  year.     At  the  request  of 
Dr.  Nicholls,  I  permitted  none  of  the  pupils  to  know 
my  intentions.     The  first  that  was  known  by  any 
pupil,  or  in  fact,  by  any  citizen,  beyond  "  Uncle 
Coe,"  was  my  closing  speech  at  our  Reunion  Ex- 
ercises, at  the  close  of  the  year.     My  determina- 
tion was  given  as  unalterable,  and  I  had  already 
contracted  for  a  house  in  Marlborough,  and  for 
teams  to  mpve  my  family.     Nevertheless,  a  con- 
siderable effort  was  made  by  the  citizens,  and  a 
special  demonstration  by  the  students,  to  change 
my  determination.      Finding,   however,   that  my 
separation    from   the  school   was   inevitable,    the 


222  REMINISCENCES. 

students,  in  the  course  of  the  evening,  collected  a 
very  considerable  purse,  as  a  parting  present,  and 
appointed  a  committee  to  make  the  presentation. 
I  believe,  if  I  could  have  possibly  or  honorably 
put  aside  my  contracts,  I  should  have  been  in- 
duced to  remain.  I  have  in  my  possession  the 
subscription  paper,  with  the  names  of  the  donors 
and  the  amounts  contributed.  This,  with  many 
other  such  mementoes  of  the  kindness  and  appre- 
ciation of  my  pupils  at  different  times  and  places 
are  treasured  with  fond  and  lasting  appreciation  ; 
especially,  as  many  of  my  former  pupils,  who, 
were  engaged  in  such  acts  of  kindness  and  liberal- 
ity, are  now  occupying  honorable  and  distinguished 
places  in  their  various  lines  of  business. 

When  I  first  arrived  at  Kirtland,  O.,  from  the 
East,  in  1837,  the  Mormons  had  collected  there  in 
large  numbers  under  the  leadership  of  Joe  Smith. 
They  were  coming  in  rapidly  from  various  direc- 
tions, many  of  them  having  sold  their  farms, 
homesteads  and  other  property  in  order  to  reach 
the  "promised  land."  The  fact  that  Joe  Smith 
had  a  revelation  soon  after  a  convert  arrived,  by 
which  any  property  he  might  have  brought  with 
him  was  to  be  loaned  to  the  Church,  and  he  thrown 
upon  himself  for  his  support,  did  not  seem  to 
diminish  his  confidence  in  Smith's  §  prophetical 
claims.  Some  very  well-to-do  and  intelligent 
gentlemen  had  already  moved  into  Kirtland, 
and  thus  had  thrown  in  their  property  and  their 
destinies  with  the  Mormons.  Among  these  was  Dr. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  223 

Cowdrey,  a  very  intelligent  and  worthy  gentle- 
man, formerly  an  elder  of  a  Presbyterian  Church 
in  New  York  State.  He  was  the  father  of  Mar- 
cellus  Cowdrey,  a  most  estimable  teacher,  for 
many  years  Superintendent  of  Schools  at  San- 
dusky.  Sidney  Rigdon,  formerly  a  Baptist  minister 
of  Hamilton,  O.,  had  recently  joined  Joe  Smith, 
and  was  a  leading  force  in  the  Mormon  Church. 
The  history  of  Rigdon  is  somewhat  interesting. 
From  being  a  Regular  Baptist,  and  no  doubt  honest 
in  his  convictions  that  immersion  was  the  only 
baptism  and  the  true  way  of  following  Christ,  he 
had,  in  due  time,  in  urging  this  tenet,  carried  it 
so  far  that  he  made  it,  with  Alex.  Campbell,  an 
essential  to  salvation.  He  left  the  Baptists,  there- 
fore, and  became  a  follower  of  Alex.  Campbell ;  in 
other  words,  he  became  a  Disciple,  or  Bible  Chris- 
tian. In  this  capacity  he  appeared  in  Geauga 
County,  and  carried  several  Baptist  Churches 
almost  bodily  over  to  the  Disciples'  doctrines, 
among  which  were  the  Baptist  Churches  of  Kirt- 
land  and  Chardon.  The  next  step  in  the  line 
of  baptism,  he  now  having  become  an  adherent 
of  Joe  Smith,  was  to  baptize  for  the  dead,  that 
being  one  of  the  Mormon  doctrines.  It  seemed 
to  me  and  others  that  this  was  running  baptism 
into  the  ground.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Mr.  Rigdon 
was  an  able  man,  a  powerful  preacher  and  a  ready 
controversialist.  It  was  through  his  labors  that 
large  accessions  were  made  to  the  Mormon  Church. 
I  do  not  think,  however,  that  Mr.  Rigdon  ever 


224  REMINISCENCES. 

favored  the  idea  of  polygamy.  In  fact,  so  far  as  I 
know,  this  matter  of  polygamy  made  a  division  in 
the  Mormon  Church.  Those  who  opposed  it  fol- 
lowed Rigdon,  and  those  who  favored  it,  Joe 
Smith.  The  doctrine  was  first  broached  in  Kirt- 
land  by  the  revelation  of  Joe  Smith,  with  reference 
to  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  old  inhabitants  of 
Kirtland,  who  was  sealed  to  Joe  as  his  spiritual 
wife.  It  was  not  the  prevalent  doctrine,  nor  gen- 
erally received  as  binding  upon  other  persons  than 
those  who  were  called  by  a  distinct  revelation,  the 
first  of  whom  was  Joe  Smith  himself.  This  tenet 
has  gained  strength  from  that  time  down  to  the 
present,  .when  it  is  now  made  an  essential  belief 
of  those  in  good  standing  in  the  Mormon  Church. 

Before  Rigdon  separated  himself  from  Smith, 
the  Church  had  established  a  bank,  issued  consid- 
erable amounts  of  paper  money  and  purchased 
a  number  of  farms  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  the  temple,  among  which  was  my  uncle  David 
Holbrook's  farm,  of  about  two  hundred  acres, 
purchased  at  the  rate  of  $400  per  acre.  The 
Mormons  paid  my  uncle  about  $10,000  down,  in 
merchandise,  and  took  possession  of  the  farm. 

Many  other  members  of  the  Congregational 
Church,  besides  uncle  David,  sold  their  farms  to 
the  Mormons.  The  result  was  a  very  general 
breaking  up  of  Kirtland  society.  A  committee 
was  sent  out  by  the  Kirtland  people,  consisting  of 
the  Rev.  John  L.  Tomlinson,  my  cousin  George 
Smith,  and  myself,  to  prospect  for  a  good  site  for 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  223 

a  new  settlement.  We  started  on  horseback  and 
traveled  through  the  southern  part  of  the  State 
for  some  four  or  five  weeks,  but  found  no  location 
that  we  thought  would  meet  all  the  demands  of  the 
friends  in  making  a  new  settlement.  We  were 
best  pleased  with  the  Mad  River  Valley,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Urbana,  and  concluded  to  report 
favorably  of  that  section  of  country.  It  was  ad- 
mitted by  the  citizens  that  milk  sickness  prevailed 
there  to  some  extent.  When  our  report  was  re- 
ceived, the  price  of  lands  and  the  possibility  of 
sickness  deterred  the  Kirtland  people  from  mak- 
ing further  investigation  in  that  direction ;  but 
•other  parties  were  sent  out  into  Indiana,  and  it 
was  found  that  Booneville,  Ind.,  offered  stronger 
inducements,  considering  the  nature  of  the  soil, 
the  abundance  of  water,  the  price  of  land,  and 
the  facilities  for  market,  than  any  other  locality. 

My  uncle,  without  investigating  for  himself, 
concluded  to  move  to  Booneville.  I  was  sent,  in 
charge  of  his  family,  his  wife  and  four  young 
children,  overland,  with  horse  and  wagon,  while 
he,  in  possession  of  the  goods,  should  go  down, 
the  Ohio  River  and  meet  us  at  Booneville. 

My  experiences  in  this  overland  journey  from 
Kirtland,  O.,  to  Booneville,  Ind.,  were  quite  novel 
and  sufficiently  varied.  We  carried  our  provisions,, 
bedding  and  cooking  utensils  in  our  wagon  with  us,, 
stopping  by  the  wayside  at  noon,  or  in  such  farm- 
houses at  night  as  we  could  get  accommodations  in. 
Being  from  Kirtland,  the  place  of  the  Mormons, 
15 


226  REMINISCENCES. 

it  was  assumed,  since  that  was  all  that  was  known 
of  Kirtland  in  most  places,  that  we  were  recreant 
Mormons,  having  had  enough  of  them,  and  were 
making  our  escape.  After  a  few  days,  in  conse- 
quence of  these  suspicions,  which  seemed  to  be 
everywhere  excited,  we  concluded  to  say  what  was 
true,  that  we  had  come  from  Geauga  County, 
when  inquired  of.  The  expenses  of  our  journey 
were  very  trivial,  while  the  incidents  were  in  some 
cases  rather  amusing  and  exciting.  On  approach- 
ing Mt.  Vernon,  through  a  road  winding  about 
among  the  hills,  we  met  a  burly  Irishman  in  a 
buggy.  We  turned  up  on  the  right  side  of  the 
road  to  give  him  room  to  pass  us.  My  cousin/ 
who  was  driving,  seems  to  have  turned  too  far  and 
the  wagon  went  over,  scattering  cooking  utensils, 
edibles  and  ourselves  in  a  promiscuous  melange 
down  the  hill.  As  we  were  gathering  ourselves 
up,  the  five  children  of  Mr.  Chase  came  around 
the  hill  and  the  man  saw  them.  Their  family 
wagon,  however,  had  not  yet  come  in  sight.  The 
burly  stranger,  lifting  his  hands  and  eyes  in  won- 
derment, burst  forth  with :  "My  God!  are  these 
all  the  children  of  one  couple?"  There  were 
about  ten  of  the  younger  members  of  both  fami- 
lies, counting  myself.  We  made  no  satisfactory 
reply,  being  busy  in  gathering  up  our  utensils  and 
setting  our  wagon  upright.  He  crowded  by  and 
left  the  family  of  ten  children  to  take  care  of 
themselves. 

The  last  day  before  we  reached  our  destination, 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  22/ 

we  came  into  a  settlement,  some  ten  or  fifteen 
miles  north  of  Booneville,  late  in  the  afternoon. 
Making  inquiries  as  to  where  we  could  get  accom- 
modations for  the  night,  we  were  told  that  there 
was  a  vacant  cabin,  that  had  been  used  fora  school- 
house,  about  two  miles  further  on.  We  were  denied 
any  accommodations  in  the  place,  and  our  only 
alternative  was  to  proceed  on  our  way,  and  find, 
if  possible,  a  covering  for  the  night.  We  found  no 
school-house  nor  cabin.  After  proceeding  several 
miles  we  concluded  that  it  would  be  well  for  us  to 
stop  and  do  the  best  we  could  under  the  circum- 
stances. There  was  a  drizzling  rain,  and  it  was 
sufficiently  chilly,  but  we  made  ready  for  the  night, 
taking  the  horses  from  the  wagon  ;  the  elder  boys 
and  myself,  wrapping  ourselves  as  well  as  we 
could,  slept  under  the  wagon.  The  rest  of  the 
family  were  lodged  in  the  wagon,  under  cover. 
During  the  night  we  imagined  we  heard  the  bark- 
ing of  wolves  in  the  distance,  but  it  did  not  mate- 
rially disturb  our  slumbers.  But  as  morning 
approached  we  heard  the  crowing  of  roosters  in 
the  neighborhood  'and  concluded  that  we  must  be 
near  some  human  habitation.  As  soon  as  day 
dawned  I  started  out  in  the  direction  of  the  indi- 
cations of  humanity,  and,  passing  through  a  nar- 
row portion  of  wood,  soon  found  myself  in  a  large 
open  space,  within  which  stood  a  very  comtortable 
double  cabin.  The  good  people  were  astir  and 
received  me  very  cordially,  and  said  that  they  felt 
that  there  was  something  unusual  in  the  neighbor- 


228  REMINISCENCES. 

hood,  as  the  dog  in  the  house  was  quite  restless, 
but  thinking  it  was  not  possible  that  any  one 
would  be  out  in  such  a  night  as  that,  they  gave  no 
further  attention  to  the  matter  and  passed  the 
night  as  usual,  but  assured  us  if  they  had  known 
of  our  being  there  they  would  have  gone  out  and 
given  us  all  the  accommodations  that  their  cabin 
could  offer.  Securing  whatever  we  needed  for  our 
morning  repast,  I  returned  and  found  my  friends. 
After  making  our  breakfast  in  the  wagon,  we 
started  on,  arriving  at  Booneville  about  ten  o'clock 
Sabbath  morning. 

TORNADO  IN  KIRTLAND. 

The  Congregational  Church  in  Kirtland  had  been 
raised  from  its  foundations,   and  turned  perhaps 
five  degrees,  and  set  down  again,  thus  wrenching 
the  frame  badly,  and  shattering  the  walls  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  and  making  it  necessary  to  re- 
build  the   foundations,    and  replaster    the    walls. 
This  tornado    took    place  when   I  was  living  in 
Berea.     The  first  observation  that  I  had  of  its  ef- 
fect,  was  in  coming  up  over  'the  hills  of  South 
Kirtland,  crossing  the  Chagrin  River,  where  was  a 
mill.     It  was  a  wonderful  sight;  the  contents  of 
the   milldam,    including  much  of  the  dam   itself, 
were  carried  from  their  location,  in  the  course  of 
the  stream,  up  to  the  top  of  a  neighboring  hill, 
about  100  feet  in  height.     As  I  passed  on  up  the 
hill,  over  the  road,  the  devastation  of  the  tornado 
was  evident  in  the  prostration  of  fences,  but  more 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  229 

fiercely  in  an  immense  swath  through  an  extended 
tract  of  forest.  Apparently,  a  mighty  giant  had 
swung  his  scythe,  passing  through  the  forest,  and 
cutting  the  trees  about  twenty  feet  from  the 
ground  over  a  breadth  of  about  four  rods  and  nearly 
a  mile  in  length.  The  trees  were  cut  off  at  this 
height,  and  in  a  very  well-defined  breadth,  through 
this  tract  of  wooded  country.  Not  going  near 
enough  to  see  what  became  of  the  trees  thus 
severed  by  the  mighty  scythe,  it  was  impossible 
to  form  any  very  definite  idea  of  the  character  and 
extent  of  the  destruction,  other  than  could  be  seen 
in  the  distance.  But  it  was  a  wonderful  demon- 
stration, as  I  conceived,  of  the  irresistible  power 
of  air  in  motion.  This  northern  branch  of  the  tor- 
nado passed  over  the  church,  lifting  it  from  its. 
foundation,  and  placing  it  as  before  described. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  leading  to 
Kirtland  Flats,  stood  a  log  cabin,  consisting  of  the 
ordinary  two  rooms  and  a  new  addition  of  frame 
and  clapboards.  This  addition  had  been  used  as 
a  spare  sleeping-room.  In  it  was  stored  the  out- 
fit of  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Stannard,  and  all  the 
wedding  paraphernalia,  waiting  for  the  nuptials  to 
take  place,  a  day  or  two  after  the  tornado  visited 
them.  The  heavy  log  cabin  seemed  to  have  re- 
sisted the  power  of  the  wind,  but  the  frame  ad- 
dition was  taken  as  if  in  a  mighty  fist,  and  whirled 
through  the  air  in  the  direction  of  the  tornado, 
sending  its  clapboards,  shingles,  and  the  wedding 


23O  REMINISCENCES. 

outfit  over  the  country  some  rods  in  width  and. 
miles  in  continued  extent.  Some  of  these  wed- 
ding ribbons  and  other  habiliments  were  picked 
up  along  the  line  of  the  tornado,  through  a  dis- 
tance of  five  to  nine  miles.  No  one  happened  to 
be  in  that  part  of  the  house  at  the  time  of  the  dis- 
aster, so  that  the  young  lady  was  on  time  for  the 
ceremony,  but  whether  she  ever  recovered  any 
part  of  her  outfit,  or  whether  she  purchased  an- 
other, I  never  learned.  The  southern  branch  of 
this  tornado,  separating  from  this  northern  branch 
at  the  mill-pond  and  hill  before  spoken  of,  pro- 
ceeded in  a  southeastern  direction,  over  the  town- 
ship of  Chester.  It  there  accomplished  no  special 
destruction,  but  played  some  merry  freaks  with 
fences,  plows,  wagons,  and  a  couple  of  damsels, 
who,  being  in  the  loft  of  the  cabin,  and  noticing 
the  destructive  energy  of  the  approaching  storm, 
had  thrown  themselves  upon  a  feather-bed,  with 
the  idea  that  the  lightning  would  not  strike  them 
when  protected  by  the  non-conductor,  feathers. 
They  were  protected  from  lightning,  but  I  was 
shown  the  cabin  unroofed,  and  the  neighboring 
apple-tree  into  which  the  young  ladies  were  car- 
ried with  their  protecting  apparatus,,  the  feather- 
bed, and  lodged  both  of  them  bodily  among  its 
branches.  I  was  shown  a  long  furrow,  made  by 
a  plow,  which  had  been  taken  up  by  the  wind  and 
carried,  as  if  drawn  by  horses  at  full  galop,  the 
clods  having  been  thrown,  twisted  and  rolled  sev- 


EXPERIENCES  IN  KIRTLAND.  23! 

eral  rods  from  the  place  where  the  plow  had  lifted 
them  from  the  soil.  It  was  not  my  fortune  to 
witness  this  tornado  in  either  of  its  branches.  I 
have  only  described  what  I  saw  as  the  results  of 
its  tremendous  work. 

This  road  over  the  Chagrin  River,  up  over  the 
hills,  led  me  by  Mr.  Harvey  Morse's.  On  a  visit 
there  one  day,  he  took  me  out  upon  the  brow  of 
the  hill,  and,  pointing  to  the  valley,  distant  from 
the  house  fifty  rods  or  more,  showed  a  small  stream 
where  his  father,  as  an  early  settler,  had  shot  a 
couple  of  wolves.  Being  in  the  house  one  moon- 
light night,  and  the- doors  being  open,  they  were 
annoyed  by  hearing  moans  of  distress  coming 
from  this  valley.  As  it  continued  some  length  of 
time,  their  curiosity  was  sufficiently  excited  to  go 
out  and  see  what  was  the  trouble  with  the  cattle 
pasturing  in  the  valley.  As  they  approached  the 
brow  of  the  hill  they  saw  at  once  the  cause  of  the 
distress.  A  yearling  heifer  was  being  driven 
across  the  valley,  from  hill  to  hill,  through  the 
water  and  mud  of  the  stream,  backward  and  for- 
ward, by  a  couple  of  wolves,  that  were  biting  and 
worrying  her,  attacking  her  at  the  rear,  and  then, 
turning  about,  biting  her  nose,  driving  her  back 
and  forth,  until,  when  they  discovered  them,  the 
heifer  was  so  nearly  exhausted  that  the  wolves 
were  ready  to  fall  upon  her  as  their  prey.  A  rifle 
being  secured,  a"  good  aim  brought  one  of  the 
wolves  to  the  ground ;  the  other  escaped  for  the 


232  REMINISCENCES. 

time  being,  but  the  heifer  was  so  far  exhausted 
and  so  badly  wounded  that  she  died  before  morn- 
ing. The  other  wolf  was  captured  before  many 
days.  These  were  the  last  of  the  wolves  in  that 
neighborhood. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,  OHIO. 

BEFORE  narrating  my  experiences  in  Marlbor- 
ough,  I  will  give  a  few  points  in  the  character  of 
the  worthy  people  of  that  place.  The  country 
had  been  originally  settled  almost  exclusively  by 
Quakers.  But  in  the  commotion  which  came 
from  the  preaching  of  Elias  Hicks,  a  large  major- 
ity abandoned  the  orthodox  usages  and  beliefs, 
and  became  much  more  liberal  in  their  views  and 
practices.  From  being  Unitarians  or  Universal- 
ists,  they  passed  to  still  more  liberal  views  and  be- 
came what  were  generally  called  "  Comeouters," 
separating  themselves  from  all  religious  associa- 
tions and  restraints.  Thus,  nearly  all  my  patrons 
and  friends  in  Marlborough  were  "Freethinkers," 
many  of  them  avowed  Atheists.  A  few  of  the 
less  educated  and  intelligent  were  Methodists. 
"The  Comeouters,"  as  a  class,  were  intelligent, 
well  read,  and,  otherwise  than  in  their  religious 
beliefs,  most  excellent  people.  My  two  pupils, 
members  of  the  board  that  called  me  to  Marl- 
borough,  expressed  no  religious  beliefs  of  any 
kind.  They  were  virtually  Agnostics,  although 

(233) 


234  REMINISCENCES. 

that  term  had  not  been  invented  at  that  time. 
The  young  people  who  were  my  pupils  had  grown 
up  with  little  or  no  religious  training,  but  with  ex- 
cellent home  culture  otherwise.  The  Sabbath 
was  only  regarded  as  a  day  of  amusement,  of 
social  enjoyment,  or  of  labor.  These  explanations 
are  perhaps  necessary,  in  order  that  my  experi- 
ences may  be  the  better  understood. 

My  object  in  taking  this  public  school  was, 
not  that  I  might  obtain  a  larger  salary,  but  that  I 
might  prepare  myself  the  better  to  train  teachers 
for  their  work  in  public  schools,  either  as  subor- 
dinates or  superintendents.  I  conceived  that 
theory  in  this  direction,  without  actual  previous 
service  in  the  work,  would  be  of  comparatively 
little  value  in  training  teachers.  My  contract 
with  the  Directors  of  the  Marlborough  School  was 
merely  a  verbal  one,  of  a  very  loose  character. 
The  only  item  mentioned  in  the  contract  was  that 
I  was  to  receive  $800  for  nine  months'  service.  All 
else  was  left  undetermined.  The  Board  of  Di- 
rectors consisted  of  six  members,  all  Freethink- 
ers excepting  one,  and  he  the  husband  of  a  Meth- 
odist lady.  He  generally  attended  church  with 
her.  When  I  arrived  in  town,  I  was  met  very  cor- 
dially by  the  deputation,  which  had  secured  a 
comfortable  tenement  for  our  occupancy.  After 
two  or  three  days  occupied  in  getting  settled,  I 
found  myself  in  charge  of  a  school  of  three  de- 
partments, in  a  new  house,  tolerably  well  arranged, 
with  comfortable  furniture  and  pleasant  surround- 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,  O.      235 

ings.  I  met  the  entire  body  of  the  pupils  in  the 
one  large  room  and  proceeded  at  once  to  organize, 
making  use  of  whatever  information  I  could  derive 
from  my  pupils  for  this  purpose.  Before,  how- 
ever, commencing  my  work,  I  read  from  my  pocket 
Bible  a  short  passage  from  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  and  offered  a  brief  prayer.  On  passing 
from  the  school  through  the  town  at  noon,  I  was 
met  by  one  of  the  Directors,  who  told  me  that 
there  was  an  intense  excitement  in  town  from  the 
fact  that  one  of  the  pupils  had  gone  immediately 
after  I  had  offered  the  prayer  and  reported  at  the 
center  store  that  the  new  teacher  had  read  the 
Bible  and  prayed  in  the  new  school-house.  This 
was  a  little  too  much  for  the  good  people,  who  had 
cast  off  all  such  superstitions,  and  they  were  very 
much  humiliated  in  the  fact  that  their  new  build- 
ing, their  school-house,  should  be  so  degraded  by 
(to  them)  cast-off  superstition  and  bygone  igno- 
rance and  darkness,  as  to  have  that  old  Hebrew 
mythology  brought  into  their  advanced  mode  of 
thinking  and  living.  The  excitement  was  tre- 
mendous. One  man,  more  frenzied  than  the  rest, 
tore  off  his  coat  and  rolled  up  his  sleeves,  and 
rushed  around  town,  declaring,  amongst  other 
things,  that  he  would  rather  Holbrook,  or  any 
other  teacher,  would  swear  by  the  hour  in  the 
new  building  than  to  "pray  " — ''pray"  five  min- 
utes. The  prayer  did  not  occupy  two  minutes. 
My  two  friends,  Wileman  and  Walton,  came  to 
advise  with  me  about  it.  They  did  not  seem  to 


236  REMINISCENCES. 

be  very  much  alarmed,  but  were  rather  anxious 
to  know  what  I  was  going  to  do  about  it.  I  gave 
them  no  definite  answer,  but  told  them  I  thought 
it  would  come  out  all  right ;  we  would  call  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Board,  and  I  would  see  what  arrange- 
ment we  could  make  that  would  be  satisfactory  to 
all  parties.  I  believed  they  were  reasonable  men, 
and  I  told  them  they  would  find  me  a  reasonable 
man,  and  I  thought  there  would  be  no  further 
trouble  about  it.  ''But,"  they  said,  "there  was  a  tre- 
mendous opposition  to  prayer  in  the  new  building; 
I  could  have  it  in  the  old  building,  but  not  the 
new."  "All  right,"  said  I,  "we  will  see  about 
it."  They  smiled  and  left  me,  knowing  that  I 
would  not  give  up  the  prayers.  The  meeting  was 
called  ;  six  members  were  present.  The  president, 
Mr.  Wm.  Morgan,  a  very  earnest  Freethinker  and 
a  most  excellent  and  worthy  citizen,  was  called  to 
the  chair.  He  hardly  knew  how  to  open  the  meet- 
ing, or  to  state  its  object,  but  requested  that  I 
would  state,  if  I  was  willing,  my  views  with  regard 
to  the  religious  exercises.  I  had  previously 
thought  the  matter  all  out  and  knew  precisely 
what  ground  I  should  take.  It  was  simply  this : 
That  I  would  hold  religious  exercises  for  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes  in  the  general  school-room  before 
the  regular  six  hours  of  school  duty,  in  my  own 
time.  That  I  would  invite  the  students  of  the 
different  departments  to  attend,  but  would  not  hold 
any  one  as  derelict  in  any  sense,  if  he  did  not 
attend.  That  I  would  provide  a  comfortable  room 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,   O. 

during  the  religious  exercises,  which  those  pu- 
pils who  chose  not  to  attend,  or  whose  parents  ' 
preferred  that  they  should  not,  might  occupy  and 
be  comfortable.  In  stating  these  views  to  the 
Board,  as  I  did  very  briefly,  I  reiterated  that  I 
held  no  pupil  in  any  sense  constrained  to  attend 
the  religious  exercises  who  did  not  wish  to ;  in 
fact,  I  should  exclude  any  one  from  religious  exer- 
cises if  I  received  word  from  the  parents  that  he 
or  she  wished  the  child  not  to  attend. ,  With  these 
remarks  I  sat  down.  Mr.  Morgan  remarked  that 
he  saw  no  objections  to  my  claims  as  a  religionist, 
as  there  was  no  coercion,  no  stigma,  no  penalty,  in 
any  sense,  attached  to  any  one  for  being  absent 
from  religious  exercises.  If  he  understood  the 
new  teacher,  in  everything  there  was  perfect  lib- 
erty, and  it  was  just  the  doctrine  he  was  living  up 
to.  He  thought  the  position  I  took  was  very 
reasonable,  and  if  any  member  of  the  Board  was 
not  satisfied,  and  felt  it  his  duty  to  contravene 
the  exercises  thus  expressed  and  thus  managed, 
he  thought  such  an  individual,  instead  of  charging- 
Mr.  Holbrook  with  bigotry  or  narrow-mindedness, 
would  feel  that  he  himself  was  chargeable 
with  the  same  state  of  feeling  and  judgment. 
Nothing  more  was  ever  said  upon  the  subject  in 
any  meeting  of  the  Board,  but  it  was,  I  have  no 
doubt,  the  subject  of  very  general  conversation 
throughout  the  families  of  the  town.  But  the 
plan  worked  very  pleasantly,  as  there  was  a  most 
universal  and  prompt  attendance  of  all  the  chil- 


238  REMINISCENCES. 

dren  from  all  the  families,  even  from  that  of  the 
man  who  was  so  tremendously  excited,  and,  so  far 
as  I  could  see,  all  seemed  to  approve  and  acknowl- 
edge the  good  moral  influence  of  the  religious  ex- 
ercises. This  position,  with  regard  to  the  claims 
and  duties  of  the  religious  teacher  in  his  relations 
to  his  pupils,  I  have  ever  since  maintained  and  in- 
culcated. In  fact,  I  believe  it  is  now  very  gen- 
erally adopted  in  all  our  public  schools.  The 
teacher  takes  his  own  course  in  religious  exercises, 
but  it  must  be  without  restraint  or  penalty,  and  in 
the  teacher's  own  time,  and  not  in  the  regular  six 
hours  of  school  time. 

After  the  close  of  Mr.  Morgan's  remarks,  I  in- 
quired if  there  was  any  provision  made  for  fuel  or 
janitor.  The  secretary  of  the  Board  remarked 
that  fuel  had  generally  been  provided  by  the 
Board  in  the  form  of  cord-wood,  and,  so  far  as  he 
knew,  Mr.  Henry  Cocke  had  either  cut  the  wood, 
or  had  given  the  students  time  to  cut  it  for  the 
stove,  and  that  Mr.  Cocke  had  also  taken  upon 
himself  to  sweep  and  dust  the  house,  although  he 
believed  that  the  older  girls  sometimes  dusted  the 
house  after  Mr.  C.  swept.  Mr.  Cocke,  being 
present,  assented  to  the  statement.  I  replied  that 
I  supposed  I  was  hired  for  six  hours  a  day,  as  was 
the  usage  in  all  schools,  and  that  if,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Board,  I  could  use  the  time  to  better 
advantage  in  sweeping  and  dusting,  and  in  chop- 
ping wood  —  and  I  was  a  poor  hand  at  all  these 
operations  —  if,  however,  I  could  serve  the  Board 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,    O.      239 

better  in  this  capacity  than  in  attending  to  my 
classes,  which  sorely  needed  all  my  strength  and 
efforts,  I  would  do  the  best  I  could  in  either  or 
both  these  capacities.  This  statement  seemed  to 
strike  them  humorously,  and  they  at  once  voted 
to  furnish  me  a  janitor  and  coal  for  the  stoves  in 
the  several  rooms.  So  that  matter  was  settled 
very  amicably  and  satisfactorily.  The  point  made 
by  the  secretary  was,  that  Mr.  Cocke  had  received 
only  $40  per  month  and  had  performed  this  extra 
service  ;  I  received  more  than  double  that  amount, 
it  was  no  more  than  reasonable  that  I  should  per- 
form this,  as  he  thought,  necessary  work. 

Before  school  on  the  second  day,  an  orthodox 
Quaker,  Mr.  Watson,  came  to  my  house  saying 
that  he  hardly  supposed  that  I  would  grant  his 
request,  and  yet  he  felt  it  necessary  to  give  his 
testimony  against  the  use  of  music  in  schools.  I 
told  him  that  I  should  not  introduce  music  into  the 
school  until  the  Directors  required  it.  His  two 
little  girls  being  in  attendance,  he  said  he  had  felt 
it  his  duty  to  express  his  preference,  although  it 
was  more  than  he  had  expected,  that  I  should  com- 
ply with  his  request,  and  he  was  accordingly 
much  gratified. 

Being  about  to  leave,  he  remarked  that  his 
nephew,  Highland  Watson,  had  come  home  very 
much  excited  from  school  the  night  before.  He 
had  been  a  great  friend  of  Mr.  Cocke  and  thought 
Mr.  C.  an  extraordinary  mathemetician,  and  that 
liardly  any  man,  especially  the  new  teacher,  would 


24O  .  REMINISCENCES. 

be  able,  in  any  sense,  to  fill  the  place  of  Mr.. 
Cocke,  especially  as  a  teacher  of  mathematics. 
But  Highland  had  gone  home  more  than  gratified, 
stating  that  they  had  a  much  better  mathematician 
than  Mr.  C.  in  the  new  teacher.  ''Why,"  said 
he,  ' '  that  little  teacher,  Holbrook,  has  more  math- 
ematics in  his  little  finger  than  Cocke  in  his  whole 
body."  I  found  the  Watsons,  with  several  other 
orthodox  Quaker  families,  always  firm  supporters, 
and  very  helpful  and  reliable  friends.  I  never  aft- 
erward found,  among  all  the  contending  religious 
views  of  the  people  of  Marlborough,  any  objec- 
tions, expressed  or  implied,  to  my  course  in  car- 
rying out  my  religious  convictions  in  school  or  in 
society.  I  presented  my  letter  to  the  Methodist 
Church  and  tried  to  do  my  duty  as  a  member  of 
that  organization  always,  so  far.  as  I  could  without 
being  offensive  in  maintaining  my  ground.  The 
change  that  came  over  the  externals  of  the  young 
people,  in  their  regard  for  the  Sabbath,  in  their 
(at  least,  outward)  respect  for  religion  and  relig- 
ionists, was  very  marked,  and,  I  believe,  was  felt 
to  be  a  decided  improvement  in  all  their  social 
gatherings  and  in  their  general  conduct. 

At  one  time,  being  called  to  "Father  Wile- 
man's  "  to  participate  in  a  party  gotten  up  in  honor 
of  an  old  teacher  of  theirs,  Joseph  Gilbert,  a  de- 
cided "Comeouter,"  and  an  outspoken  infidel,  I 
was  accosted  by  him,  while  sitting  in  the  parlor 
in  the  midst  of  a  company  of  twenty  or  thirty 
persons,  with  the  remark:  "Alfred  Holbrook, 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,   O.      24! 

it  is  one  of  the  most  mysterious  things,  that  a 
man  of  your  intelligence,  of  your  extensive  read- 
ing, and  your  knowledge  of  the  world  and  of 
the  evils  which  have  sprung  from  religious 
beliefs  and  credulity,  that  you  can  have  any 
patience  or  belief  in  that  miserable  old  He- 
brew book  called  the  Bible."  Mr.  Gilbert,  after 
these  words,  awaited  my  reply.  All  were  inter- 
ested, to  say  the  least,  in  what  he  said,  and  were 
waiting  anxiously  no  doubt  for  my  defense ;  all 
being  in  sympathy  with  him  rather  than  me.  Wait- 
ing until  I  could  control  my  feelings  a  little  before 
I  made  a  reply,  I  turned  to  the  venerable  mother 
of  these  young  people,  my  pupils  and  friends, 
saying:  "Mrs.  Wileman,  I  have  known  these 
children  of  yours  for  many  years,  as  pupils  and 
friends,  and  I  have  respected  and  loved  them  as 
sincere  and  truthful  and  worthy  of  all  confidence ; 
and,  now,  may  I  be  permitted  to  ask  you  if 
they  have  not  received  these  qualities  from  the 
training  in  the  Bible  given  them  by  their 
mother?"  "It  is  true,  Alfred  Holbrook,  that 
these  children  have  received  their  ideas  of  truth, 
and  honor  and  virtue  from  the  blessed  old  book." 
I  was  congratulated  by  the  smiles  and  plaudits  of 
all  present.  Mr.  Gilbert  never  afterward  troubled 
me  with  his  aspersions  or  his  doubts. 

My  first  difficulty  with  my  pupils  was  in  the 
matter  of  dancing.     These  young  Quaker  people, 
when   they    had   broken    loose   from    Quaker  re- 
straints,  went  to   the    other   extreme   of  almost 
16 


242  REMINISCENCES. 

recklessness  in  their  amusements.  Sabbath  days 
and  evenings  and  other  evenings  were  fre- 
quently given  to  dancing  and  rollicking.  After 
the  first  novelty  of  the  school  had,  in  a  meas- 
ure subsided,  I  found  that  one  or  two  days  a 
week  the  older  students  came  to  school  tired,  lit- 
tle inclined  to  study,  irresponsive  and  cross.  In- 
quiring into  the  recurrence  of  this  state  of  affairs, 
on  the  part  of  the  leading  and  best  pupils  in  the 
school,  I  obtained  from  their  own  confession  that, 
in  every  such  case,  it  resulted  from  their  dancing 
nearly  all  night.  Several  times  I  made  serious 
appeals  to  their  sense  of  duty,  their  self-respect, 
and  their  very  earnest  previous  endeavors  for  the 
improvement  of  their  privileges,  and  to  their 
kindly  feeling  toward  me,  which  had  ever  exhib- 
ited itself.  But  in  spite  of  their  promises  of  re- 
fraining from  the  practice,  new  occasions  would 
call  for  breaking  down  their  resolutions,  and  danc- 
ing became  more  and  more  an  evil.  In  reflecting 
upon  this  state  of  things,  and  finding  that  the  res- 
olutions of  the  young  people  were  not  sufficient 
to  hold  them,  and,  in  fact,  that  they  were  train- 
ing themselves  to  make  resolutions  and  break 
them,  and  thus,  to  immorality  and  untruthful- 
ness,  I  concluded  I  could  no  longer  be  a  party  to 
this  line  of  moral  degradation.  One  morning  at 
general  exercises,  after  I  had  dismissed  the  pupils 
of  the  other  departments  to  their  rooms  respect- 
ively, I  told  those  who  were  present  in  the  high 
school  that  I  had  something  to  say,  and  I  wished 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,   O.      243 

to  hold  their  attention  for  a  few  minutes  before 
they  commenced  their  regular  work.  My  remarks 
were  these:  "Now,  young  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
you  are  well  aware  that  I  respect  you,  and  that  I 
like  you  all ;  there  is  not  an  exception ;  there  is  no 
one  among  you  who  has  treated  me  otherwise 
than  with  the  kindest  feelings  and  attention  ;  for 
all  of  which,  as  a  stranger,  I  have  ever  felt,  and 
do  now  feel,  most  grateful.  For  the  first  few 
weeks  I  enjoyed  my  position  here  as  teacher,  and 
felt  that  I  was  doing,  or  helping  you  to  do  your- 
selves, a  great  and  good  work,  and  I  can  not  but 
feel  that  you  have  enjoyed  your  school  work  under 
my  administration.  Of  late,  however,  my  work 
and  your  efforts  have  been  so  frequently  marred 
and  defeated,  in  a  large  measure,  by  your  lack  of 
sustained  interest,  and  by  frequent  breaks  in 
your  progress  of  study  by  the  practice  of  dancing, 
that  I  have  concluded  that  it  is  not  safe  nor  right 
for  me  to  remain  longer  a  party  to  this  wrong 
which  you,  in  spite  of  me,  are  inflicting  upon 
your  physical,  intellectual  and  moral  being.  I 
have  therefore  concluded  to  resign,  and  shall 
offer  my  resignation  to-day,  to  take  place  at  the 
end  of  the  term.  I  don't/think  I  ought  to  hazard 
my  reputation  under  such  circumstances,  and  impair 
my  future  usefulness  by  a  failure  which  I  see  is  im- 
pending in  our  relations  to  each  other."  I  sat  down. 
Mr.  James  Morgan,  the  eldest,  perhaps,  and  most 
respected  of  the  pupils,  presently  rose  and  said 
something  like  this:  "Mr.  Holbrook,  I  don't 


244  REMINISCENCES. 

want  you  to  leave  us,  and  I  know  that  it  is  not  the 
wish  of  any  of  your  pupils  that  you  should  leave 
us.  We  are  very  sorry  that  we  have  brought 
you  to  this  resolution ;  we  have  no  one  to 
blame  but  ourselves.  Our  attendance  on 
dances  has  been  very  wrong,  and  we  freely  ac- 
knowledge it  has  been  a  great  drawback  upon  our 
interest  in  school  and  upon  our  lives.  We  have 
never  intended  to  go  counter  to  your  wishes,  or 
in  any  way  to  bring  reproach  upon  your  charac- 
ter or  our  own  success.  But  more  recently  cir- 
cumstances have  turned  up  that  we  did  not  foresee, 
where  we  felt  that  the  social  claim  must  be  at- 
tended to,  and  one  claim  has  led  to  another  and 
another,  till  this  matter  has  come  to  be  the  evil 
that  it  is.  And  I,  for  one,  will  do  anything  you 
want  me  to  do,  and  I  think  every  pupil  here  will 
say  the  same,  for  we  don't  want  this  thing  to  go 
on.  We  mean  to  do  better."  One  young  lady 
arose  and  expressed  herself  in  the  same  manner, 
and  that  seemed  to  be  the  feeling  of  all  who  were 
in  attendance  that  morning.  "  Well,"  said  I,  "  I 
will  draw  up  a  very  simple  pledge,  and  if  you  are 
willing  to  sign  it,  I  shall  be  willing  to  remain.  But 
a  pledge,  as  I  have  found,  is  of  very  little  force 
unless  attended  with  a  sufficient  penalty  to  make 
the  violation  of  the  pledge  somewhat  of  an  annoy- 
ance and  disgrace.  I  will  propose  this  penalty ; 
whether  it  will  meet  your  views,  I  do  not  know : 
That,  in  case  any  one  feels  it  necessary  to  engage 
in  dancing,  or  to  be  present  at  a  dance,  he  will 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,  O.      245 

voluntarily  absent  himself  from  school  the  next 
two  school  days."  One  young  lady  suggested 
one  day  would  be  sufficient.  "  No,"  said  I,  "I 
do  not  think  that  would  be  any  penalty  at  all,  for 
you  are  good  for  nothing  one  whole  day  anyhow." 
So  it  was  unanimously  agreed  to  sign  their  names 
to  the  pledge  and  the  penalty.  Good  order  and 
diligence  were  restored  and  the  classes  went  on  as 
vigorously  as  could  be  desired. 

In  the  course  of  time,  however,  one  young  gen- 
tleman in  attendance,  who  had  been  visiting  cous- 
ins in  the  country,  found  it  necessary  to  join  a 
dance  which  was  gotten  up  especially  for  his  enter- 
tainment. He  reported  the  fact,  stating  that  he 
could  hardly  courteously  decline  to  be  present  at 
the  dance,  or  to  engage  with  the  young  folks  of  the 
neighborhood,  since  the  party  was  given  for  him. 
He,  however,  left  it  for  me  to  decide  whether,  under 
the  circumstances,  he  was  not  excusable  for  viola- 
tion of  the  rules.  Sympathizing  most  heartily 
with  the  young  man,  and  approving  his  honest 
manly  report,  I  took  it  into  consideration  whether, 
under  the  circumstances,  it  would  be  safe  to  set 
aside  the  rule.  Finally,  however,  I  concluded 
that  it  would  be  best  for  the  school,  even  for  the 
young  man  himself,  to  let  the  law  take  its  course. 
After  two  days  of  absence*  he  returned  and 
thanked  me  for  my  integrity,  and  said  he  believed 
I  had  taken  the  best  course,  and  that  he  fully  ap- 
proved of  my  decision.  Dancing  in  term  time 
never  afterward  troubled  us.  I  ought,  perhaps, 


246  REMINISCENCES. 

to  relate  here,  that  Prof.  T.  C.  Mendenhall,  a  boy 
then  about  nine  years  of  age,  was  one  of  my  most 
promising  pupils.  He  advanced  rapidly,  taking 
his  place  with  pupils  much  older  than  himself. 
He  was  especially  interested  in  practical  scientific 
work.  It  was  during  the  second  year,  I  think,  of 
my  superintendency  in  Marlborough,  that  I  intro- 
duced analytical  chemistry,  having  obtained  from 
New  York  a  complete  set  of  analytical  apparatus 
and  tests.  With  this  advanced  class  of  scholars  I 
organized  also  an  engineering  class,  having  obtained 
the  requisite  instruments  for  that  purpose ;  also  a 
theodolite,  a  transit  and  a  level,  all  in  one  instru- 
ment, together  with  other  necessary  apparatus  for 
exact  and  practical  work.  The  school  rapidly  in- 
creased with  students  from  abroad.  The  old  town 
hall,  that  had  become  dilapidated  and  was  neg- 
lected for  years,  was  repaired  and  utilized  for  a 
general  school-room ;  in  fact,  for  chapel  purposes. 
These  accommodations  being  filled,  the  M.  E. 
Church  was  rented  and  brought  into  use  during 
the  third  year.  All  the  accommodations  were 
crowded,  and,  perhaps,  I  felt  more  encouraged  in 
the  fact  that  the  tuition  in  our  school  was  $5  for  a 
term  of  eleven  weeks,  while  at  Mt.  Union  College, 
eight  miles  distant,  the  tuition  was  only  $3  a  term. 
It  was  during  trie  third  year,  in  the  summer 
vacation,  that  I  organized  a  Scientific  Institute 
and  had  the  satisfaction  of  a  large  and  respectable 
attendance  of  the  leading  teachers  of  that  part  of 
the  State.  The  brief  services  of  Hon.  Thomas 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,   O.      247 

Harvey  and  President  Loren  Andrews  were  se- 
cured, but  the  rest  of  the  work,  the  instruction,  I 
performed  myself.  The  work  of  the  Scientific 
Institute  was  chiefly  of  a  practical,  scientific  char- 
acter,, involving  the  construction  and  use  of  appa- 
ratus in  the  different  sciences,  and  training  in 
lecturing  with  apparatus  in  hand.  Charles  S. 
Royce  was  in  attendance,  also  David  Parsons, 
since  Deputy  State  Superintendent  of  Michigan. 
Also  other  teachers  of  considerable  note  and  repu- 
tation, among  them  Hon.  John  A.  Norris,  after- 
ward State  Commissioner  of  Schools  in  Ohio.  Dr. 
Thomas,  a  physician  of  the  town,  organized  a 
class  in  anatomy,  physiology  and  hygiene.  The 
class  consisted  of  some  eight  persons,  of  whom 
Abram  Wileman,  his  wife  and  sister,  were  pupils, 
also  Mrs.  Holbrook  and  Mrs.  Markham.  Mrs. 
Markham  was  a  granddaughter  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Coles,  formerly  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Austinburg,  Ohio,  and  a  widow  of  re- 
markably fine  physical  development,  of  excellent 
education,  of  vigorous  mental  ability  and  of  win- 
ning address.  She  was  preparing  herself  here 
to  lecture  to  ladies  on  physiology  and  hygiene, 
was  a  most  diligent  and  successful  student,  and 
gave  promise  of  being  an  efficient  and  popular 
lecturer.  Soon  after  she  came  to  Marlborough, 
there  were  spiritual  demonstrations  in  connection 
with  her  as  medium,  which  continued  as  long  as 
she  was  in  Marlborough,  with  endless  variations 
and  with  remarkable  and  inexplicable  phenomena. 


248  REMINISCENCES. 

It  must  be  remembered  in  this  connection  that 
Abram  Wileman  believed  in  no  spirit,  devil,  god, 
or  anything  of  the  kind.  Now  the  first  cadaver 
used  in  the  course  of  their  anatomical  studies 
was  reported  to  be  the  body  of  a  frail  girl 
from  Cincinnati.  The  demonstrations  of  her 
spirit,  according  to  all  those  who  witnessed 
them  or  were  disturbed  by  them,  were  always 
of  a  humorous  character,  and  were  related  to 
my  wife  and  me  as  interesting  and  funny. 
For  instance,  when  the  demonstrations  had  be- 
come frequent  and  somewhat  annoying,  Dr. 
Thomas  called  Dr.  Whiting,  from  Canton, 
also  Dr.  Ackley,  from  Cleveland,  to  hold  a  con- 
sultation upon  the  spiritual  manifestations.  They 
were  met  in  their  applications  in  this  case,  in  every 
instance,  with  some  evasive  answer,  the  answer 
always  being  in  raps,  given  by  calling  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet  in  order.  After  many  such  evasions 
and  humorous  rejoinders,  Dr.  Thomas  said : 
"Now,  Ann,  you  have  been  fooling  us  enough; 
give  us  something  sensible,  won't  you?"  She 
rapped  affirmatively,  then  commenced  rapping 
again  in  compliance  with  her  promise.  As  they 
called  the  alphabet  down  they  came  to  these  let- 
ters successively  in  answer  to  her  raps,  '  's-o-m-e- 
t-h-i-n-g-s-e-n-s-i-b-1-e. " 

While  these  three  gentlemen  were  sitting  around 
a  table,  a  pebble  came  flying  through  the  back  win- 
dow, which  was  open,  and,  indirectly  in  its  course, 
lodged  upon  the  snuffer  tray.  This  was  about  all 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,   O.    249 

the  satisfaction  that  the  three  learned   gentlemen 
derived  from  the  spirit  of  Ann. 

Several  times  my  wife  and  I  tried  to  be  pres- 
ent when  these  manifestations  were  going  on, 
but  were  never  successful  in  witnessing  them 
in  any  of  their  varied  forms.  One  evening, 
having  been  invited  by  Hannah  Wileman 
and  Mrs.  Markham  to  call,  we  spent  the  evening 
very  quietly  and  pleasantly  in  the  usual  conversa- 
tion for  such  occasions.  At  nine  o'clock  we  with- 
drew and  went  home.  The  next  morning,  while 
we  were  at  breakfast,  Hannah  Wileman  came  to 
our  house  very  much  excited,  stating  that  before 
we  had  come  into  their  room,  the  night  before, 
things  were  flying  about  in  every  direction ;  brushes, 
candlesticks  and  various  other  articles  passing 
around  the  room,  always  missing  them.  But 
from  the  time  they  had  heard  us  at  the  gate,  to 
the  time  we  left  and  shut  the  gate  of  the  front 
yard,  there  were  no  manifestations,  but  the  mo- 
ment the  gate  was  closed  disturbances  began  and 
continued  all  night.  They  retired  at  a  late  hour. 
The  sittting  room  was  also  their  bedroom. 
The  lights  being  extinguished,  their  bedclothes 
were  suddenly  jerked  off,  and  a  small  riding-whip, 
which  they  thought  was  hanging  in  the  hall,  was 
applied  rather  lightly  to  their  unprotected  persons. 
Springing  out  of  bed  and  lighting  the  candle, 
they  found  the  riding-whip  lying  on  the  carpet. 
With  very  considerable  trepidation  they  again 
placed  themselves  in  position  for  repose,  but 


REMINISCENCES. 

scarcely  had  they  reclined  when  the  clothes  were 
snatched  off  again  and  a  ewer  of  water  seemed 
to  be  suspended  over  them,  and  the  water  thrown 
quite  all  over  them  and  the  bed.  Mrs.  Markham 
being,  as  she  claimed,  the  cause  of  all  this  trouble, 
concluded  she  would  retire  to  another  room,  leav- 
ing Hannah  to  quiet  rest  for  the  night.  She  de- 
clared that  no  sooner  had  she  placed  herself  under 
the  bedclothes  in  the  chamber  above,  than  she 
was  suddenly  taken  up  bodily  and  set  down  on 
the  floor  and  a  large  basket  of  about  five  bush- 
els capacity  was  thrown  over  her  head.  She 
screamed  for  help.  The  doctor,  coming  in  about 
this  time  from  visiting  a  patient,  released  her,  and 
no  more  spirits  troubled  them  that  night.  The 
spirits  seemed  to  stand  somewhat  in  awe  of  him. 

These  last  performances  were  from  the  spirit  of 
Sallie,  the  second  subject  for  dissection.  She  was 
a  spiteful  thing.  The  dissection  had  proceeded 
as  far  as  taking  the  brain  out  of  the  skull,  and  ex- 
amination of  the  muscles  of  the  right  arm,  which  had 
been  previously  removed  from  the  body.  Mrs. 
Markham  and  Hannah  occupied  the  doctor's  sitting 
room  at  night  as  a  bedroom,  the  doctor  spending 
most  of  his  time  in  his  office,  and  sleeping  in  a  room 
contiguous.  .  About  twelve  o'clock  one  night  Han- 
nah was  wakened  by  a  feeling  of  chilliness  over  her 
face.  Opening  her  eyes,  she  discovered  a  phos- 
phorescent hand  extending  over  her.  This  hand 
and  arm  were  attached  to  the  phosphorescent  body 
of  the  recently-arrived  cadaver — the  figure  as  it 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,   O.     25! 

was  left  in  the  dissecting-room  the  evening  before. 
The  frightened  Hannah  roused  Mrs.  Markham^ 
who  witnessed  the  same  phenomenon.  Both 
jumped  out  of  the  window  upon  the  adjoining 
porch,  and  waded  through  the  snow,  barefooted 
and  in  their  nightclothes,  along  the  streets  to 
the  other  part  of  town,  to  Abram  Wileman's  house. 
Awakening  them  with  considerable  difficulty  from 
sound  sleep,  they  were  admitted  and  spent  the  rest 
of  the  night  in  peace.  The  next  morning,  the 
body,  mutilated  as  before  described,  was  found  in 
its  place  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  This  last 
subject,  Sallie,  appeared  of  a  very  different  dispo- 
sition from  Ann,  the  first  one.  All  of  Sallie's 
manifestations  were  annoying,  vicious,  and  many 
of  them  malicious.  Mrs.  Markham  herself  always 
professed  that  she  had  no  control  over  these  spirits ; 
that  she  did  not  desire  their  presence,  and  they  an- 
noyed her  a  thousand-fold  more'  than  they  could 
anybody  else.  She,  however,  used  them  occa- 
sionally for  mediums  in  communicating  with  her 
deceased  husband.  These  communications,  so  far 
'as  she  revealed  them,  were  always  of  a  pleasant 
and  consoling  character. 

In  connection  with  Mrs.  Markham,  Miss  Betsy 
Coles,  her  aunt,  had  communications  with  her 
father,  Dr.  Coles.  She  was  induced  one  day,  she 
said,  to  take  her  pencil  in  hand,  holding  it  over 
the  paper,  and  leaving  her  hand  to,  be  guided  by 
spiritual  influences  that  claimed  to  be  those  of  her 
father.  His  communication  resulted  in  his  reiter- 


252  REMINISCENCES. 

ating  all  his  orthodox  views  as  preached  for  years, 
and  exhorting  his  daughter  to  pursue  the  even 
tenor  of  her  way  in  her  religious  views,  assuring 
her  that  the  best  that  any  mortal  could  experience 
in  this  world,  of  knowledge  of  spiritual  things  and 
the  joy  of  acceptance  with  God,  was  but  as  the 
faintest  dawn  of  the  coming  day,  when  compared 
with  his  condition  in  his  heavenly  abode.  I  saw 
and  read  this  communication.  Miss  Betsy  assured 
me  that  the  handwriting,  although  loose  and  un- 
certain, very  much  resembled  that  of  her  father 
when  living.  Now,  all  these  friends,  the  two 
Wilemans,  Mrs.  Markham  and  Miss  Betsy  Coles 
were  persons  whom  I  would  believe  on  any  other 
subject  whatever.  The  Wilemans  especially,  I 
had  known  for  years  as  worthy,  reliable  young 
people.  But  so  far  as  these  spiritual  manifesta- 
tions are  concerned,  they  were  truly  mysterious, 
unaccountable,  and  to  me,  unreasonable,  on  any 
other  theory  than  that  they  were  the  real  work  of 
evil  spirits. 

After  leaving  Marlborougfo  and  making  a  short 
and  successful  tour  of  lecturing,  Mrs.  Markham 
was  married  again,  and  so  far  as  I  know,  was  not 
further  disturbed  by  spirit  communications. 

It  was  while  my  Scientific  Institute  was  going 
on  at  Marlborough,  and  Hon.  T.  W.  Harvey  and 
Loren  Andrews  were  taking  dinner  with  me,  that 
Mrs.  Dr.  Speer,  of  Massillon,  was  also  an  invited 
guest.  The  dinner  being  nearly  concluded,  Mr. 
Harvey  withdrew  somewhat  from  the  table.  Mr. 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,   O.     2$ 3 

Andrews  said:  "Well,  Tom,  now  for  a  cigar!" 
Mrs.  Speer  then  addressed  Mr.  Harvey:  "Mr. 
Harvey,  are  you  aware  that  my  son  Henry  is 
smoking  again?"  "No,  madam,  I  have  not 
noticed  it."  "Well,  he  is,  and  it  is  in  spite  of 
everything  that  his  father  and  mother  can  do  or 
say  to  prevent  it.  What  do  you  suppose  was  his 
last  argument,  after  he  had  promised  me  faithfully 
that  he  would  smoke  no  more  ?"  "I  don't  know, 
indeed,  madam."  "Well,  it  was  simply  this: 
If  Mr.  Harvey  smokes  and  it  does  not  hurt  him, 
I  don't  see  why  it  should  hurt  me.  And  the  boy. 
is  so  nervous  and  irritable,  and  has  become  so  un- 
manageable, that  we  feel  that  we  need  your  influ- 
ence to  aid  us  in  saving  our  son."  "  Well,  Mrs. 
Speer,  I  will  think  about  it,"  Mr.  Harvey  said, 
turning  away  laughing.  When  he  had  left  the 
room,  Mrs.  Speer  said  that  her  son  Henry,  being 
naturally  very  nervous  and  excitable,  had  become 
a  perfect  slave  to  tobacco,  that  his  health  had 
been  very  much  impaired,  and  his  feeble  con- 
stitution seemed  to  have  been  almost  wrecked, 
and  that  both  father  and  mother  had  used  every 
influence,  by  way  of  penalties  and  rewards,  of 
exhortation  and  tears,  and  every  endeavor  and  in- 
ducement which  could  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  boy  to  save  him.  This  last  stroke  seemed  to 
be  a  little  more  than  she  could  bear.  The  equa- 
nimity with  which  Mr.  Harvey  seemed  to  take 
her  statement  of  the  case  did  not  in  the  least  re- 
lieve her  mind.  What  the  result  was,  with  the 


254  REMINISCENCES. 

boy,  I  am  not  able  to  say,  but  all  who  know  Mr. 
Harvey,  know  that  it  did  not  induce  him  to  set  a 
better  example  afterward. 

One  night,  just  as  we  were  about  to  retire,  there 
came  a  knock  at  our  door.  I  found  a  stranger 
seeking  admittance,  a  boy  about  eighteen  years 
old,  quite  haggard  and  wan,  and,  as  I  judged,  terri- 
bly homesick.  He  told  us  his  name  was  John 
Norris.  My  wife  inquired  if  he  had  had  supper. 
He  had  not ;  so  she  prepared  him  some  supper, 
and  we  offered  him  a  bed,  expecting  to  see  him 
in  better  plight  in  the  morning.  The  young  man 
entered  school,  remained  with  us  two  terms,  was 
very  diligent,  made  excellent  progress,  support- 
ing himself  partly  by  doing  chores  and  odd  jobs 
for  one  and  another.  At  the  end  of  this  time,  he 
was  prepared  for  county  examination,  and  engaged 
a  school  in  the  neighborhood  of  Marlborough.  He 
taught  a  year  or  more.  Under  the  influence  of  Mr. 
Andrews,  who  had  formed  an  acquaintance  with 
him  at  Marlborough,  he  was  induced  to  go  to 
Kenyon,  of  which  institution  Mr.  Andrews  was 
then  President.  Proceeding  to  Kenyon  imme- 
diately on  the  close  of  his  school,  he  had  six 
months  left  in  which  to  prepare  himself  to  enter 
the  Freshman  Class  of  '54. 

After  the  war  was  over,  in  '65,  Mr.  Norris  was 
candidate  for  the  Commissionership  of  Schools  in 
Ohio.  He  visited  us  in  Lebanon.  Sitting  at  our 
table,  and  addressing  himself  to  Mrs.  Holbrook, 
he  said:  "Madam,  you  are  but  little  aware  of 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,    O.      255 

what  you  did  for  me,  that  saddest  night  of  my 
life,  when  I  went  with  so  much  timidity  to  your 
door,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  or  where  else  to 
go.  I  had  run  away  from  home,  my  mother  being 
cognizant  of  the  fact,  and  my  father  opposing  my 
desire  and  purpose  to  acquire  an  education.  I 
had  heard  of  the  Marlborough  school,  and  thought 
perhaps  I  might  be  able  to  support  myself  in  at- 
tending school  there ;  and  hence,  with  but  little 
money  in  my  pocket  which  my  mother  furnished 
me,  and  with  a  determined  purpose,  my  small 
fund  being  exhausted,  I  reached  your  door.  The 
sympathy,  encouragement  and  kindness  of  your 
reception,  and  the  interest  you  at  once  took  in  my 
case,  was  really  my  first  start  in  life."  Turning 
to  me  he  said:  "I  want  to  tell  you,  Mr.  Hoi- 
brook,  how  the  impetus  I  received  in  the  twenty- 
two  weeks  that  I  was  with  you  in  Marlborough 
•enabled  me  to  obtain  my  education  in  Kenyon, 
in  one-half  the  usual  time. 

"When I  went  to  Kenyon,  I  was  very  cordially 
received  by  President  Andrews,  who  informed 
me  that  I  had  only  six  months  in  which  to  com- 
plete the  course,  which,  in  the  curriculum,  required 
two  years.  Being  determined  to  accomplish  this 
within  the  given  time,  I  set  myself  at  work  to  do 
it.  At  the  examination  for  admission,  I  presented 
myself  as  a  candidate.  Passing  tolerably  well;  I 
was  informed  that  I  could  not  be  admitted,  since 
I  had  not  spent  the  requisite  time  in  the  prepara- 
tory school,  one  year  being  the  least  possible  time 


256  REMINISCENCES. 

for  admission;  Mr.  Andrews,  however,  took  up 
my  case  and  argued  with  the  faculty.  He  being- 
the  only  member  of  the  faculty  who  was  not  a  col- 
lege graduate,  thought  it  would  be  bad  economy 
to  send  off  a  likely  young  man  who  could  be  ad- 
mitted to  any  other  college  on  examination  with- 
out reference  to  the  time  he  had  spent  in  preparing; 
the  very  fact  that  I  had  prepared  myself  in  six 
months,  being,  he  thought,  sufficient  evidence  of 
my  ability  to  sustain  myself  in  the  course.  He 
stated  also  that  he  would  give  me  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  any  college  which  I  might  wish  to> 
enter,  and  that,  according  to  his  views,  I  would 
be  an  ornament  to  any  institution  that  I  chose  to- 
select.  These  arguments,  with  others,  induced  the 
faculty  at  last  to  vote  to  receive  me  as  a  Freshman. 
During  that  year,  besides  keeping  up  with  the 
Freshman  Class,  I  took  the  studies  of  the  Sopho- 
more year,  hiring  a  Senior  student  to  hear  my  reci- 
tations. At  the  end  of  the  Freshman  year,  I 
presented  myself  as  a  candidate  for  the  Junior 
year,  and  went  through  the  examinations  credita- 
bly, as  the  faculty  admitted,  but  was  refused  ad- 
mission to  the  Junior  Class,  some  members  of  the 
faculty  stating  that  such  an  irregularity  would 
derogate  very  much  from  the  integrity  of  their 
college  curriculum.  Mr.  Andrews  again  came  to 
my  relief,  saying  as  before,  that  he  would  send 
me  with  a  letter  of  recommendation  to  Hudson, 
the  institution  that  I  had  selected,  provided  I 
could  not  be  retained  here,  and  he  knew  that  I 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,    O.      257 

would  be  received  there  on  his  recommendation, 
as  well  as  on  examination,  if  they  chose  to  exact 
it.  I  was  again  permitted  to  break  in  upon  the 
regular  college  routine,  and  was  received  as  a 
student  the  'second  year  into  the  Junior  class. 
During  the  Junior  year,  I  took  not  only  the  studies 
in  the  curriculum  for  that  year,  but  all  the  studies 
of  the  Senior  year,  and  in  the  final  examinations 
found  my  grades  rather  above  the  average  of  those 
who  had  been  engaged  six  years  in  the  ordinary 
course  at  Kenyon.  The  faculty,  except  the  Presi- 
dent, were-  fully  determined  that  they  would  not 
graduate  me.  No  expostulations  or  arguments 
offered  by  the  President  could  move  the  worthy 
faculty  from  their  position.  President  Andrews, 
however,  was  not  to  be  overcome  by  the  faculty 
in  their  what  seemed  to  him  unreasonable  course. 
He  brought  the  matter  before  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  in  the  presence  of  the  faculty.  The  case 
was  fully  argued,  and  I  had  the  satisfaction  of 
learning  from  President  Andrews,  that  there  was 
a  unanimous  vote  on  the  part  of  the  Board  to  con- 
fer upon  me  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Thus, 
Mr.  Holbrook,  through  the  methods  of  study 
which  I  derived  from  your  instruction  in  Marl- 
borough,  during  twenty-two  weeks,  I  was  able  to 
accomplish  my  course  of  six  years  in  two  years 
and  a  half.  My  application  proved  none  too 
severe  for  my  health,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  any 
industrious  boy  in  college  can  accomplish  more 
than  twice  as  much  as  he  ordinarily  does,  and 
17 


258  REMINISCENCES. 

greatly  to  the  advantage  of  his  health  and  morals. " 
It  was  this  statement  of  Mr.  Norris  that  led  me 
to  establish  a  full  college  course  in  the  Normal 
School,  occupying  two  years  and  a  half,  rather 
than  five  or  six  years,  according  to  the  ordinary 
curriculum  of  colleges. 

Bartley  Gilbert  was  an  intelligent  and  well-to-do 
'farmer,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Marlborough,  con- 
nected with  many  of  the  leading  Quaker  or 
"  Comeouter  "  families  in  the  township.  He  had 
long  previously  taken  a  leading  position  in  opposi- 
tion to  all  claims  of  religion,  and  yet,  -so  far  as  I 
know,  was  otherwise  a  good  citizen,  a  kind  neigh- 
bor and  an  active  philanthropist.  It  happened, 
one  dark,  drizzly  evening,  as  he  was  passing  to 
the  stable,  looking  after  his  stock,  that  he  noticed 
a  stranger  leaning  over  the  gate  of  the  lane  lead- 
ing to  the  house.  As  he  passed  back  from  the 
barn,  the  stranger  still  continued  standing  there, 
and  Gilbert,  going  down  to  the  gate,  a  distance  of 
.-some  rods,  found  a  man,  with  one  of  his  feet 
wrapped  up  in  cloth,  and  otherwise  somewhat 
dilapidated.  When  addressed,  he  said  he  was  on 
his  way  to  Cleveland  from  Pittsburg.  His  money 
giving  out  at  Limaville,  he  had  been  compelled  to 
take  to  his  feet,  and  now,  not  being  able  to  walk 
further,  he  had  stopped  where  he  was,  not  know- 
ing where  to  go  nor  what  to  do.  Gilbert  kindly 
invited  the  tramp  to  his  house,  furnishing  him 
comfortable  entertainment.  In  the  morning,  the 
man  was  found  to  be  sick  and  somewhat  delirious. 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARYBOROUGH,   O.      259 

In  his  wandering  talks,  he  seemed  to  be  address- 
ing now  one  friend,  and  now  another,  making  fre- 
quent allusions  to  "Lord"  this,  and  "Lady"  that, 
and  divers  other  persons  of  the  nobility  of  En- 
gland. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gilbert  attended  carefully 
to  his  wants,  provided  medical  advice,  and  nursed 
the  stranger  through  two  or  three  weeks  of  sick- 
ness. On  recovering,  in  answer  to  their  questions, 
he  said  that  he  was  a  younger  son  of  a  noble 
father  in  England,  and  that  he  had  been  sent  to 
America  to  enlarge  and  improve  his  education  by 
travel.  He  had  stopped  in  Reading,  Pa.,  for 
some  days,  and  while  witnessing  the  pouring  of 
iron  in  the  iron-works  of  that  place,  one  of  the 
vessels  containing  molten  metal  had  fallen,  and 
the  iron  had  been  thrown  upon  his  boot,  burning 
his  foot  terribly.  His  funds,  he  said,  were  in 
Cleveland,  and  under  such  conditions  that  it  was 
necessary  that  he  should  go  there  in  person  in 
order  to  obtain  them.  The  Gilberts  assured  him 
that  he  could  remain  with  them  until  he  was  able 
to  travel,  and  that  they  would  furnish  him  the  nec- 
essary means  when  he  chose  to  leave  for  Cleve- 
land. They  introduced  him  to  their  friends  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  at  length  he  was  brought  to 
visit  the  public  schools.  I  treated  the  gentle- 
man with  all  possible  courtesy,  but  from  the 
first  was  led  to  believe  that  he  was  an  impostor, 
and  that  he  was  receiving  the  kindness  of  these 
— the  comeouter  friends  —  under  false  pretenses; 
My  suspicions  were  met  with  kindly  but  deter- 


260  REMINISCENCES. 

mined  opposition  by  those  who  were  entertaining: 
the  stranger.  Under  one  pretext  and  anotherr 
he  remained  in  the  neighborhood  several  weeks, 
being  entertained  by  one  and  another  of  these 
worthy  families,  and  being  supplied  with  money 
for  various  purposes.  Some  pretexts  at  last  being" 
found  to  be  inconsistent  with  his  first  representa- 
tions, excited  the  suspicion  of  Mrs.  Gilbert, 
When  he  was  absent  one  day,  she  took  occasion 
to  examine  his  satchel,  the  only  baggage  he 
brought  with  him.  Whether  she  found  it  locked 
or  not,  I  do  not  know,  but.  the  only  contents  she 
found  were  an  old  pair  of  pants;  a  bill  for  the  pair,, 
as  it  seemed,  which  he  had  on,  and  a  very  meager 
set  of  cobbler's  tools.  When  he  returned,  she 
questioned  him  very  rigorously  with  regard  to  his. 
statements,  which  had  seemed  inconsistent  with 
each  other,  and  inconsistent  with  his  baggage.  He 
still  maintained  that  his  representations  were  in  the 
main  correct,  and  that  he  had  learned  from  his 
correspondence  that  the  money  which  should 
have  been  forwarded  to  Cleveland,  was  sent  to- 
Buffalo.  The  Gilberts  being  unwilling  to  furnish 
him  more,  for  they  had  already  lent  him  between 
$200  and  $300,  Dr.  Brooks,  my  next  neighbor, 
furnished  him  $50  with  which  to  reach  Buffalo, 
there  to  find  funds  to  liquidate  his  indebtedness  to 
his  friends  in  Marlborough.  But  no  money  was 
received  as  he  had  promised,  and  when  Dr.  Brooks 
wrote  him  at  Buffalo,  he  received  in  reply  a  very 
impudent,  insulting  and  provoking  attack  upon 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,   O.    26l 

Dr.  Brooks  and  all  the  other  comeouter  friends 
for  their  greenness  in  being  thus  imposed  upon  in 
the  manner  they  had  been,  by  a  man  of  so  little 
education  and  such  meager  powers  as  himself. 
The  result  of  this  misapplication  of  benevolent 
feeling  from  these  worthy  families  was  such,  that 
Mrs.  Gilbert  declared  that  she  didn't  know  that 
she  would  be  able  ever  again  to  trust  any  human 
facing  who  appealed  to  her  good  feelings  for  aid. 

During  my  third  year  in  Marlborough,  my 
salary  having  been  advanced  from  $800  to  $1,000, 
I  received  an  invitation  to  take  the  Superintend- 
•ency  of  the  public  schools  in  Salem,  Ohio,  with 
an  offer  of  $1,200  salary.  Feeling  still  that  super- 
intendency  was  not  my  calling,  and  a  more  ex- 
tensive experience  in  this  work  was  needed,  in 
order  that  I  might  be  able  to  experiment  in  this 
field  and  .carry  my  various  theories  into  practice 
for  future  use  in  training  teachers,  I  accepted,  in 
.-spite  of  the  many  remonstrances  and  entreaties  of 
my  Marlborough  friends.  Another  reason,  per- 
haps, for  my  preferring  to  go  to  Salem  was,  that 
the  accommodations  for  students  in  Marlborough 
were  all  filled  to  their  extreme  capacity,  and  there 
was  no  further  opportunity  for  the  school  to  grow 
from  home  or  foreign  patronage.  With  much 
reluctance,  therefore,  I  concluded  to  leave  my 
many  friends  and  very  agreeable  and  successful 
work  in  Marlborough. 

During    my  last  winter  in   Marlborough  I  at- 
tended,   in   company   with    my   wife,    the   State 


262  REMINISCENCES. 

Teachers'  Convention,  in  Columbus,  Ohio.  Such 
worthies  as  Dr.  A.  D.  Lord,  Mr.  Andrews  and 
Marcellus  Cowdrey,  were  then  the  admitted  lead- 
ers of  educational  affairs  in  Ohio,  and  it  must  cer- 
tainly have  been  a  satisfaction  to  bring  together  by 
their  personal  influence  such  a  gathering  of  teach- 
ers, in  midwinter,  as  assembled  at  that  time  and 
place.  The  questions  under  discussion  were  such 
as  tended  to  the  positive  advantage  of  the  school 
system,  rather  than  to  the  personal  advantage  of 
the  leaders  and  those  confederated  with  them.  The 
State  Association  then  had  the  respect  and  confi- 
dence of  legislators  as  well  as  of  educators,  being- 
controlled  by  such  philanthropic  spirits.  After  an. 
interesting  series  of  meetings,  the  Association  ad- 
journed Friday  night.  We,  that  is,  my  wife  and 
I,  had  been  very  hospitably  entertained  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Ayres,  citizens  of  Columbus,  and  had 
made  our  arrangements  to  leave  on  Friday  after- 
noon, in  order  to  avoid  traveling  on  the  Sabbath. 
Having  packed  our  trunks  and  removed  them  to 
the  hall  of  our  hospitable  mansion,  we  sat  waiting 
for  the  omnibus  to  take  us  to  the  depot,  Mrs.  and 
Mr.  Ayres  conversing  with  us  as  we  waited.  As 
the  conversation  proceeded  and  adieus  were  about 
to  be  said,  I  told  my  wife  that  i  should  not  start 
for  home  that  night.  ' '  Why  not  ?  ' '  said  she,  ' '  we 
are  all  ready ;  what  is  the  necessity  for  our  stay- 
ing? "  "Well,  I  don't  think  it  best  for  us  to  go." 
' '  Why,  husband,  we  shall  not  get  home  before 


EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  MARLBOROUGH,   O.     263 

Sunday,  and  we  don't  like  to  travel  on  Sunday." 
-Well,  wife,  I  don't  think  I  shall  go."  "  Why, 
husband,  are  you  crazy?  We  have  made  all  our 
arrangements  to  go,  and  we  must  go ;  the  children 
at  home  will  be  expecting  us."  "  Wife,  I  am  not 
going,  neither  will  you  with  my  consent."  Mrs. 
Ayres  seconded  my  motion  and  begged  us  to  re- 
main ;  she  would  be  very  glad  to  have  us  remain 
until  next  morning,  at  nine  o'clock.  But  wife 
still  insisted,  and,  using  as  much  authority  as  I  ever 
did  or  could,  I  told  wife  that  she  could  not  go ;  if 
she  did,  she  would  have  to  .go  alone.  "Well,"' 
said  she,  "if  you  are  going  to  stay  in  this  condi- 
tion, you  need  somebody  to  stay  with  and  take 
care  of  you."  "I  guess,  Mrs.  Ayres,  we  have 
concluded  to  stay." 

The  next  morning  we  started  on  the  first 
through  train  about  nine  o'clock,  and  had  gone 
but  a  few  miles  when  we  learned  by  telegraph  that 
the  train  which  had  left  the  previous  night,  on 
which  we  had  designed  to  go  home,  had  been 
thrown  off  the  track  about  ten  o'clock  at  night, 
and  fourteen  cars  had  been  thrown  alternately, 
one  on  one  side,  and  another  on  the  other  side,  of 
a  high  embankment,  and  all  on  board  were  terribly 
shaken,  many  seriously  hurt,  and  some  crippled 
for  life,  while  two  or  three  were  supposed  to  be  fa- 
tally injured.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  wife 
and  I  could  now  understand  why  we  could  not  em- 
bark the  night  before.  After  waiting  some  hours  for 


264  REMINISCENCES. 

the  clearing  of  the  track,  we  proceeded  on  our 
way,  arriving  home  safely  on  Sabbath  morning, 
and  found  all  at  home  in  comfortable  circumstances. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  add,  we  were  very  thankful  for 
our  providential  escape. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


REMINISCENCES  IN  SALEM. 

IN  entering  upon  my  work  in  Salem,  I  studied 
the  ground  carefully  before  the  school  commenced. 
Xnowing  that  my  predecessor  was  an  able  and  pop- 
ular man,  and  had  his  stanch  friends  among  my 
teachers,  students  and  patrons,  I  conceived  it 
necessary  I  should  first  establish  my  reputation  as 
a  teacher.  I  therefore  took  the  position  which  my 
predecessor  had  left,  as  Principal  of  the  High  School, 
letting  the  other  departments  run  as  they  had  be- 
fore, without  any  special  superintendency.  My  ex- 
perience with  the  classes  of  the  High  School  was,  to 
me,  very  satisfactory,  and,  so  far  as  I  could  judge, 
popular  both  with  the  pupils  and  citizens.  Near 
the  close  of  the  first  term  of  twelve  weeks,  having 
now  become  familiar  with  the  work  to  be  done, 
and  having  determined  that  changes  were  neces- 
sary in  order  to  place  myself  fully  in  charge  of  all 
the  subordinate  departments,  I  proposed  to  the 
Directors,  in  the  first  place,  to  give  an  extra  hour 
to  the  school,  provided  they  would  allow  me  three 
hours  a  day  for  the  distinct  work  of  superintend- 
ency. I  proposed,  also,  to  change  the  entire  order, 

(265) 


266  REMINISCENCES. 

as  for  occupancy,  of  the  rooms  of  the  different 
departments,  and  to  put  in  the  exclusive  charge  of 
every  subordinate  teacher  about  thirty  pupils.  The 
previous  arrangement  being  that  prevalent  in  most 
graded  schools  at  that  time,  viz.:  having  an  older 
teacher  in  charge  of  the  large  study  room,  with 
one  hundred  pupils,  more  or  less,  in  the  room,  the 
teaching  being  performed  partly  by  the  teacher  in 
charge  of  the  room,  but  mostly  by  assistant 
teachers  in  other  and  smaller  rooms.  I  found  by 
careful  attention  to  this  arrangement  that  this  plan 
had  worked  badly.  The  pupils  made  use  of  the 
fact  of  studying  in  one  room  with  one  teacher, 
and  reciting  in  another  room  to  another  teacher, 
for  shirking  study  and  excusing  themselves  to  both 
teachers.  First,  with  the  teacher  in  charge  of 
the  study  room,  that  they  had  learned  their  lessons, 
and  hence  had  time  for  amusement  and  idleness ; 
then  to  the  teacher  to  whom  the  recitation  was 
made,  that  the  lesson  was  so  hard  that  they  could 
not  get  it ;  and  as  there  was  no  special  arrangement 
made  for  preventing  this  deception,  the  pupils 
were  difficult  to  manage  in  the  study  room  and 
imperfect  in  their  recitations.  The  plan  was  noth- 
ing more  nor  less  than  a  training  in  deceit,  idleness 
and  wickedness  generally. 

The  first  thing,  then,  that  I  proposed  to  do  in 
my  new  arrangement  was  to  put  each  subordinate 
teacher  in  charge  of  one  room,  with  as  many  stu- 
dents as  that  one  room  could  accommodate,  and 
to  arrange  the  grades  so  that  each  teacher  should 


REMINISCENCES  IN  SALEM.  26/ 

have  two  or  three  grades  to  manage,  as  the  case 
might  be.  Thus  every  teacher  could  be  held  ex 
clusively  responsible  for  all  under  her  charge. 
This  new  arrangement  of  rooms  and  teachers  re- 
quired an  entirely  new  organization  and  new  grad- 
ing. I  found,  however,  that  the  rooms  already  in 
use,  by  proper  management,  could  be  so  appropri- 
ated as  to  meet  the  demand.  The  high  school 
could  be  placed  in  the  large  study  room  and  all  the 
smaller  rooms  could  be  utilized  for  the  subordin- 
ate grades.  My  next  proposition  to  the  Directors 
was  that  they  should  furnish  me  with  an  assistant 
in  the  high  school,  who  should  have  charge  of 
the  order  of  the  high  school ;  and  my  classes,  which- 
ever I  might  select  for  my  four  hours  a  day,  should 
be  attended  to  in  the  adjoining  room.  So  far  as  I 
was  concerned,  I  was  willing  to  trust  the  good 
order  and  diligence  of  the  classes  which  I  taught, 
to  the  care  and  charge  of  my  assistant  teacher, 
although  I  would  hardly  have  been  willing  to  put 
her  in  my  position,  being  myself  in  charge,  and 
having  the  classes  recite  to  her  in  another  room. 

These  several  propositions  were  accepted  by  the 
Board  of  Directors,  and  the  new  organization  was 
accomplished,  and  I  then  entered  upon  my  second 
term  as  superintendent.  Before  making  my  re- 
organization, I  called  the  Directors  together,  and, 
with  their  aid  and  such  as  I  could  obtain  from  the 
teachers — they  not  being  especially  favorable  to  the 
new  organization — I  succeeded  in  making  a  new 
grading  of  the  school  of  about  550  scholars,  quite 


268  REMINISCENCES. 

to  my  satisfaction,  placing  each  subordinate 
teacher  in  charge  of  those  grades  which  she  had 
somewhat  irregularly  taught  under  the  previous 
arrangement. 

I  then  made  a  careful  calculation  as  to  how  often 
I  could  visit  each  class  in  the  entire  system.  I 
found  that  I  could  spend  half  an  hour,  by  very 
economical  arrangement  of  my  time,  with  each 
class,  once  in  two  weeks  in  all  the  departments, 
excepting  the  high  school.  In  my  first  round  of 
visits  I  asked  each  teacher  to  assign  about  as  much 
in  extent  in  the  subject  matter  to  each  class  as  she 
thought  they  could  well  and  thoroughly  learn  in 
two  weeks,  leaving  this  matter  almost  entirely  to 
the  teacher  herself,  informing  her  that  in  just  two 
weeks  from  that  time  I  would  be  present  and  spend 
half  an  hour  in  examining  that  class,  saying  also 
that  I  should  expect  her  to  be  present  at  the  ex- 
amination and  to  aid  me  in  pursuing  a  course 
which  would  be  fair  and  equitable  for  the  pu- 
pils and  satisfactory  to  herself.  Now,  I  had 
known  that  such  examinations  had  generally  been 
carried  on  by  Superintendents  with  the  teacher 
not  present,  and  I  had  found  that  it  worked  badly: 
the  teacher  was  not  properly  represented  by  her 
pupils,  and  her  plans  under  such  circumstances 
were  very  likely  to  be  misunderstood ;  hence  her 
work  was  not  properly  appreciated.  One  most  im- 
portant object  that  I  had  in  view  by  this  arrange- 
ment was  to  secure  the  entire  confidence  and  good 
will  of  my  teachers.  Not  only  so,  I  called  the 


REMINISCENCES  IN  SALEM.  269 

teachers  together  Saturday  morning  and  heard  re- 
ports from  them  of  the  progress  of  their  depart- 
ments and  of  the  especial  difficulties  which  they 
met  in  governing,  and,  especially,  of  all  pupils 
who  were  wayward,  or  absent,  or  tardy,  or  lazy, 
and  of  any  other  matters  that  were  of  common  in- 
terest, where  I  could,  in  any  sense,  be  of  help  to 
any  teacher  or  pupil. 

When  my  second  round  of  supervising  com- 
menced, having  made  a  record  of  the  precise  ex- 
tent of  the  work  to  be  done  in  every  subject  on 
which  each  class  was  to  be  examined,  and  pre- 
pared for  the  examination  of  almost  every  class 
ten  questions,  I  took  my  seat  at  the  desk,  the 
class  being  on  the  recitation  seats  some  distance 
away  from  me,  and  the  teacher  being  seated  also 
at  the  desk  at  my  side,  acting  as  my  secretary.  I 
called  each  pupil  to  the  desk  separately,  and  ex- 
amined him  by  propounding  any  one  of  the  ten 
questions  which  I  thought  the  most  difficult,  as 
involving  a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  the  subject. 
My  questions  were  given  almost  in  a  whisper,  so 
that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  the  other  pupils 
on  the  recitation  seat  to  hear  either  the  question 
or  the  answer.  The  same  ten  questions,  with  the 
possibility  of  varying  them,  if  I  thought  it  neces- 
sary, answered  the  purpose  for  the  examination 
of  the  whole  class.  In  fact,  I  had  showed  my  list 
of  questions  to  the  teacher  just  before  I  com- 
menced the  examination,  and  requested  her  to 
make  any  changes  or  modifications  which  she 


2/O  REMINISCENCES. 

thought  desirable.  Suggestions  were  sometimes 
made  by  the  teachers,  and  were  invariably  adopted 
by  me.  If  the  first  question  was  answered  cor- 
rectly and  promptly,  I  frequently  dismissed  the 
pupil,  and  requested  the  teachers  to  grade  that 
pupil  in  this  examination  100  per  cent.  If,  how- 
ever, the  answer  was  incorrect,  I  gave  the 
pupil  another  chance  with  another  question, 
and  if  still  not  satisfactory,  the  pupil  was  tested 
with  another  question,  all  within  the  hearing  of 
the  teacher.  Thus,  those  who  were  least  pre- 
pared might  be  asked  ten  questions  or  even  more. 
Those  who  were  found  to  be  well  prepared  were 
dismissed  to  their  seats,  with  possibly  only  one  or 
.two  questions,  thus  economizing  my  time,  and  giv- 
ing such  as  seemed  least  prepared  the  best  oppor- 
tunity to  vindicate  themselves  in  the  examination. 
My  grading  was  in  every  instance  to  be  recti- 
fied by  the  opinion  of  the  teacher,  as  she  certainly 
knew  the  standing  and  merit  of  the  pupil  by  her 
line  of  instruction  for  two  weeks  much  better 
than  I  could  in  so  brief"  a  trial.  It  might  be  asked 
then,  Why  not  take  the  opinion  of  the  teacher  at 
once,  and  take  the  grades  of  the  pupils  from  her 
opinions  and  further  knowledge  of  the  pupils'  dili- 
gence and  power  ?  The  reply  is,  that  my  work  as 
Superintendent  was  designed  as  much  to  show  the 
teacher  that  I  appreciated  her  faithfulness  and 
skill  in  training  her  pupils,  by  what  I  should  as- 
certain by  this  comparatively  independent  exam- 
ination in  her  presence,  as  to  grade  the  pupils 


REMINISCENCES  IN  SALEM.  2/1 

properly  in  their  thoroughness  and  advancement. 
When  the  examination  was  closed,  I  requested 
the  teacher  to  assign  according  to  her  judgment, 
the  additional  matter  which  could  well  and  thor- 
oughly be  mastered  within  the  next  two  weeks. 
This  decision  of  the  teacher,  accepted  always  by 
myself, was  made  known  at  the  time  also  to  the  class. 
Hence,  in  the  second  and  third  consecutive  ex- 
aminations more  and  more  work  was  continually 
given,  and  better  and  better  results  obtained, 
very  frequently  by  the  urgency  of  the  pupils  them- 
selves. The  whole  amount  of  subject  matter  as- 
signed was  comparatively  well  mastered  in  one 
week,  and  the  remaining  time  was  then  given  to  re- 
views or  to  additional  matter  on  which  the  pupils 
wished  to  be  examined  at  the  time  when  the  Su- 
perintendent came  around.  It  was  found  by  the 
time  the  second  examination  had  transpired,  that 
a  new  era  had  dawned  upon  the  school,  and  the 
teachers,  instead  of  being  tyrannized  over,  as  they 
had  feared,  were  relieved  almost  entirely  of 
the  responsibility  and  vexation  of  governing  their 
pupils.  The  interest  excited  by  this  plan  of  man- 
agement was  so  all-pervading  and  stimulating, 
that  there  was  no  more  tardiness  or  absenteeism, 
no  more  shirking  or  mischief.  Indeed,  every 
pupil  was  doing  his  utmost  to  secure  the  best 
grades,  and  the  teachers  had  only  to  guide  and  ad- 
vise in  this  endeavor. 

Every  subordinate  teacher,  'in  our  weekly  teach- 
ers' meetings,  expressed  herself  well  satisfied  and 


2/2  REMINISCENCES. 

exceedingly  happy  in  the  supervision  thus  carried 
on.  Not  only  was  twice  the  amount  of  work 
done  which  had  been  done  previously,  -but  it  was 
accomplished  twice  as  well,  and  yet  apparently  by 
little  effort  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  If  there 
was  any  complaint  in  the  village,  the  only  one  I 
ever  heard  of  was  that  some  of  the  children  were 
taking  too  much  time  out  of  school  to  prepare 
their  lessons  and  in  reviewing  their  work  in  ex- 
pectancy of  the  semi-monthly  examination. 

My  experience  with  my  eight  subordinate 
teachers  was,  to  me,  a  beautiful  success ;  and,  at  the 
end  of  the  year,  I  felt  prepared  to  resume  my  work 
as  a  teacher  of  teachers,  if  an  opening  should  offer. 

Of  my  personal  dealings  with  my  pupils  I  give 
but  one  instance.  Among  other  pupils  in  the 
grammar  school  was  a  very  pretty  girl  of  fifteen 
years,  whose  mother  was  a  widow  in  good  circum- 
stances. She  indulged  her  daughter  in  attend- 
ing all  the  parties  in  town,  also  in  all  sorts  of  rides 
and  other  diversions,  that  drew  off  her  attention 
and  interest  from  her  school  work.  This  very 
pretty  girl  was  the  object  of  general  attention, 
and,  being  so  much  flattered,  she  had  hoped  to 
pass  with  her  class  to  the  High  School  the  follow- 
ing year,  in  spite  of  her  low  grades  in  examina- 
tions. I  informed  her  mother,  by  a  note,  that  she 
could  not  pass,  and  requested  to  see  her.  She 
came  immediately  with  her  daughter.  Apologiz- 
ing as  well  as  I  could  for  the  girl,  in  the  fact  that  she 
had  found  more  pleasure  in  parties  and  drives,  and 


REMINISCENCES  IN  SALEM.  2/3 

other  divertisements,than  in  her  school  duties,  and 
that  I  thought  perhaps  it  was  more  the  girl's  mis- 
fortune than  her  fault,  that  she  was  so  pretty  that 
everybody  wanted  her  at  parties,  nevertheless,  I 
said  that  it  would  be  doing  a  great  injustice  to  all 
the  school  to  let  one  pass  who  was  known  to  be  so 
deficient  in  her  work  as  she  was.  Still,  if  the  Di- 
rectors were  willing  to  let  her  pass,  I  could  not,  of 
course,  prevent  it.  She  went  to  the  Directors,  and 
returned  witli  the  reply  that  they  left  it  entirely 
to  me.  I  remarked  that  I  was  very  sorry  for  the 
daughter,  and  admired  her  very  much,  and  that  if 
she  would  employ  a  teacher  during  the  vacation  of 
six  weeks,  I  thought  it  very  probable,  if  she  would 
give  herself  very  diligently  to  study,  she  might 
catch  up  in  those  studies  in  which  she  was  more 
deficient  (mainly  arithmetic).  I  would  take  the 
trouble  to  examine  her  in  the  first  week  of  the 
new  year,  and,  if  I  found  her  examination  satis- 
factory, I  should  be  very  glad  to  let  her  pass  into- 
the  High  School.  The  arrangement  was  seized 
upon  by  both  mother  and  daughter,  and  I  have  no- 
doubt  the  young  lady  improved  her  opportunities 
most  vigorously.  She  took  her  place  with  her 
classmates  the  next  year,  and,  so  far  as  I  know, 
afterward  made  her  school  work  her  chief  enjoy- 
ment. My  experiences  with  the  good  people  of 
Salem  were,  for  the  most  part,  very  pleasant  and 
satisfactory,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  but 
scarcely  worth  narrating.  I  may  only  add,  that  at 
the  close  of  my  year,  the  students  and  patrons, 
18 


274  REMINISCENCES. 

without  my  knowledge  raised  a  subscription  and 
bought  me  a  handsome  gold  watch,  as  a  testimo- 
nial of  their  appreciation  of  my  labors.  The 
watch  was  worn  by  my  wife  for  many  years,  and 
is  now  in  the  possession  of  one  of  my  daughters. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO. 

IN  August  of  1855  I  was  invited  by  the  teachers 
of  Southwestern  Ohio  to  join  them  in  forming  a 
Southwestern  Normal  School  Association,  the 
meeting  of  the  Association  to  continue  three  weeks, 
and  convene  at  Oxford  in  the  buildings  of  the 
Miami  University.  I  was  invited  to  take  charge 
of  the  special  professional  training  work  of  this 
three  weeks'  institute.  The  leading  teachers  of  the 
occasion  were  John  Hancock  and  Prof.  Rickoff,  of 
Cincinnati ;  Chas.  Rogers,  of  Dayton ;  C.  C.  Ellis, 
of  Georgetown,  and  David  Parsons,  of  Urbana. 
Quite  a  number  of  teachers  and  lecturers  were 
employed  in  various  lines  of  instruction.  As  the 
different  courses  of  instruction  proceeded  from 
day  to  day,  private  conferences  were  held  by  the 
teachers  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  a  plan  to 
the  Association  for  the  permanent  organization 
and  establishment  of  a  Normal  School.  When 
action  was  taken  in  the  Association,  I  was  appoint- 
ed the  committee  to  draft  a  constitution  for  the 
Association,  including  the  principal  object  of  the 
Association — a  Normal  School.  The  draft  that  I 

(275) 


REMINISCENCES. 

offered  for  a  constitution  was  adopted,  and  a  Board 
of  Trustees  was  appointed  for  the  selection  of  a 
site  and  for  securing  a  Principal  and  the  necessary 
facilities  for  opening  a  Normal  School,  to  be  called 
the 'Southwestern  State  Normal  School.  Notices 
were  inserted  in  the  papers  of  the  plan  and  of  the 
desire  of  the  Board  to  negotiate  with  any  localities 
which  were  desirous  of  furnishing  the  requisite 
grounds  and  buildings  for  the  said  Institution. 
Judge  J.  C.  Dunlevy,  of  Lebanon,  communicated 
with  the  committee,  and  Lebanon,  through  nego- 
tiations with  the  leading  citizens  of  that  place,  was 
selected  as  the  site  of  the  school.  Lebanon  pro- 
posed to  furnish  the  use  of  the  Academy  building, 
as  long  as  the  school  should  continue,  with  an  aver, 
age  of  eighty  pupils,  for  five  years,  at  such  rates 
as  the  Board  should  adopt.  Before  the  meet- 
ing in  Oxford  adjourned,  I  was  elected  Principal  of 
the  prospective  Normal  School,  and  visited  Leba- 
non during  the  month  of  August,  in  order  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  people,  and  to  decide 
definitely  as  to  the  acceptance  of  the  proposition 
made  by  the  people  of  Lebanon.  In  looking 
around  the  town  with  Judge  Dunlevy,  I  found  at 
least  a  dozen  very  comfortable  buildings,  such  as 
any  family  need  not  be  ashamed  of  as  residences, 
without  tenants.  My  remark  to  Judge  Dunlevy 
was,  that  these  unoccupied  buildings  were  the  most 
desirable  feature  that  Lebanon  had  to  offer  for 
opening  a  school.  Although  Lebanon  was  five 
miles  from  the  nearest  railroad,  it  still  appeared 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,   OHIO. 

to  me  that,  all  things  considered,  it  was  the  best 
site  that  could  be  found,  for  many  reasons.  The 
intelligence  of  the  people,  the  numerous  churches 
which  seemed  to  be  well  sustained,  and  the  entire 
salubrity  of  the  location,  together  with  the  interest 
which  the  people  exhibited  in  pledging  themselves 
to  support  the  school  by  an  attendance  of  at  least 
an  average  of  eighty  pupils  for  five  years — these 
considerations,  with  the  special  interest  which 
Judge  Dunlevy  manifested  in  the  enterprise, 
seemed  to  me  satisfactory  in  their  promise  for  the 
rapid  building  up  and  continued  growth  of  a  large 
and  flourishing  Institution.  I  had  yet  a  term  of 
nine  weeks  to  teach  in  Salem,  to  complete  my 
year.  I  visited  Lebanon  once  during  that  time, 
and  made  some  necessary  arrangements,  issued 
circulars  and  advertisements  for  the  opening  of 
school  on  the  i/th  of  November,  1855.  As  the 
soon  as  my  term  closed  in  Salem,  which  was  about 
November  5,  I  came  at  once  to  Lebanon,  to  make 
the  necessary  repairs  in  the  school  buildings  and 
to  secure  boarding  places  for  pupils  from  abroad, 
and,  if  possible,  to  arouse  an  interest  in  the  town 
and  country  round  about  in  favor  of  the  new  en- 
terprise. I  was  very  kindly  received,  and  all  my 
wishes  were  met.  The  Normal  School  Trustees 
held  a  joint  meeting  with  the  stockholders  and 
Trustees  of  the  Lebanon  Academy,  and  a  legal 
transfer  was  made  to  the  Normal  School  Associa- 
tion, with  the  conditions  before  stated,  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  school,  by  the  citizens  of  Lebanon. 


278  REMINISCENCES. 

My  family  were  in  Salem.  My  wife  assured 
me  by  letter  that  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  me 
to  return,  as  she,  with  such  help  as  she  could  se- 
cure, would  be  able  to  pack  and  move,  and  take 
care  of  the  six  children,  the  eldest  being  about 
twelve  years  of  age  —  that  she  preferred  that  I 
should  remain  in  Lebanon,  and  get  everything 
ready,  as  far  as  possible,  for  the  opening  of  the 
school,  and  for  the  reception  of  the  family.  I 
concluded  to  take  her  advice,  and  left  her  with  the 
burden  and  responsibility  of  making  the  removal. 
Notwithstanding  we  had  a  considerable  amount  of 
property,  household  goods  and  school  apparatus, 
all  of  which  had  to  be  packed  safely  for  transpor- 
tation upon  the  railroad,  with  several  changes  by 
the  way,  Mrs.  Holbrook  managed  the  whole  affair 
herself,  having  very  little  help,  with  entire  suc- 
cess, arriving  in  Lebanon,  with  children  and  serv- 
ant, in  due  time ;  very  tired,  but  all  in  good  health 
and  good  spirits.  The  sympathy  she  received 
from  some  of  the  good  people  of  Salem,  especially 
in  their  hospitality  and  kindness  on  the  day  and 
night  previous  to  her  departure,  was  a  matter  of 
frequent  remark,  and  of  continued  and  deep  ap- 
preciation. One  Quaker  family  especially,  the 
Pinkhams,  took  the  responsibility  and  labor,  after 
our  goods  were  removed  and  shipped,  of  lodging 
the  entire  family  during  the  night  previous  to 
their  starting,  giving  them  their  supper  and  an 
an  «early  breakfast,  enabling  them  to  leave  Salem 
at  5  A.  M. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  279 

Among  the  repairs  it  was  necessary  for  me  to 
make  in  the  Academy  was  the  furnishing  of  sev- 
eral rooms,  whitewashing  and  painting  several 
others.  The  largest  room,  which  had  been  used 
for  a  Primary  School,  No.  4,  I  had  seated  and  fur- 
nished for  a  chapel.  It  would  hold  about  150. 
This  was  the  largest  room  and  best  adapted  to  the 
purpose.  One  of  the  rooms,  with  sliding  doors, 
was  arranged  with  desks  and  seats  for  a  model 
school ;  another  with  desks  for  adults.  All  these 
arrangements  and  expenses  were  assumed  by  my- 
self, the  Board  of  Trustees  taking  no  risks  and  ad- 
vancing no  means.  In  fact,  they  would  venture 
nothing,  and,  when  written  to,  rather  advised  me 
not  to  undertake  it,  provided  I  could  not  do  so 
without  depending  on  them.  Not  one  of  them 
was  present  at  the  opening  of  the  Normal  School. 
The  agent,  however,  appointed  to  send  in  students, 
appeared  in  the  course  of  time.  The  conditions 
on  which  1  was  engaged  by  the  Association  were 
that  my  salary  should  be  limited  to  $1,200,  and 
that  I  should  have  entire  control  of  the  school  and 
make  such  regulations  as  appeared  desirable. 
With  such  help  from  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and 
with  no  property  of  my  own,  save  a  library  of 
three  hundred  volumes  and  an  apparatus  that  had 
cost  me  $2, 500,  I  assumed  the  entire  responsibility, 
feeling  that  I  had  nothing  to  depend  upon  but  my 
own  efforts  as  guided  and  favored  by  Divine  Provi- 
dence. I  felt,  however,  the  conviction  that  such 
a  school  was  needed  in  this  location  for  many 


28O  REMINISCENCES. 

reasons,  and  that  I  should  be  assisted  by  the  same 
good  Providence  that  had  hitherto  blessed  me  and 
mine. 

The  Public  School  teachers,  of  all  the  country 
round  about,  I -found  inimical  to  the  new  enter- 
prise, fearing,  as  they  said,  that  it  would  bring 
such  a  crowd  of  teachers  from  other  parts,  and 
the  price  of  teaching  would  become  so  meager 
that  they  would  be  compelled  to  leave  the  neigh- 
borhood and  go  elsewhere.  The  price  of  teaching 
at  that  time,  in  the  most  favored  schools  outside 
of  the  villages,  was  not  more  than  $i  a  day,  so  far 
as  I  could  learn.* 

Mr.  Kimball,  the  worthy  principal  of  the  Leba- 
non Public  School,  was  friendly  to  me  personally, 
and  certainly  not  openly  opposed  to  the  success 
of  the  institution.  About  the  I3th  of  November 
my  family  arrived.  I  met  them  on  the  omnibus, 
and  we  took  our  first  meal  together,  after  our  long 
separation,  at  the  Lebanon  House.  From  the 
peepings  and  whisperings  that  came  to  our  eyes 
and  ears,  we  were  led  to  suppose  that  we  were 
each  of  us  objects  of  curiosity.  The  good  citi- 
zens of  Lebanon  were  sufficiently  surprised  that 
the  new  teacher,  depending  on  them,  as  they  sup- 
posed, for  subsistence,  had  come  with  such  a  nu- 
merous retinue,  and  felt,  as  they  have  since  told 
me,  a  number  of  them,  no  little  misgiving  as  to 
whether  we  would  find  our  bread  and  salt  assured. 
The  history  of  the  four  or  five  previous  teachers 
who  had  occupied  the  Lebanon  Academy  since 

*The  pay  of  country  school  teachers  is  now  from  $2.00  to 

$3.00  per  day,  in  this  county  and  adjoining  counties.     This  is  a 

»•'     direct  result  of  the  Normal  School,  in  furnishing  better  teachers. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,   OHIO.  28 1 

its  erection  was  sufficiently  ominous.  Nearly 
every  one  had  commenced  with  a  fair  attendance, 
varying  from  80  to  120;  then  the  attendance 
diminished  and  diminished,  until  within  two 
years  the  principal  found  himself  involved  ,in 
debt,  unable  to  meet  the  demands  of  his  creditors, 
and  compelled  to  leave,  in  some  cases  escaping 
the  sheriff's  claims.  A  similar  fate,  they  appre- 
hended, might  overtake  me,  in  consequence  of 
the  burden  of  so  large  a  family.  Mr.  Suydam, 
one  of  the  most  liberal  and  intelligent  citizens, 
soon  after  told  me  that,  had  he  known  I  had  such 
a  large  family,  he  would  not  have  permitted  me 
to  come  to  Lebanon,  or  would  at  least  have  in- 
formed me  of  the  endeavors  of  the  previous 
teachers  to  sustain  a  school.  My  reply  to  Mr.  Suy- 
dam's  well-meant  condolence  was  about  like  this: 
"It  is  not  my  expectation,  Mr.  S ,  that  Leba- 
non will  sustain  me  and  my  family;  but  it  is  my 
purpose,  Deo  volente,  to  build  up  Lebanon,  and,  to 
some  extent,  to  sustain  the  town."  Such  was  the 
confidence  that  seemed  to  possess  my  wife  and  me, 
the  children  then  being  too  young  to  realize  the 
nature  of  the  undertaking  or  the  extent  of  the  re- 
sponsibility assumed.  It  is  due  the  good  citizens 
of  Lebanon  that  I  should  acknowledge  their  hos- 
pitality, and  general  and  marked  kindness  of  the 
first  families  in  the  place,  of  all  denominations. 
At  the  time,  the  Baptists  were,  perhaps,  in  pos- 
session of  the  most  of  the  property,  of  the  most 
attractive  homes,  and  were  the  most  cultivated 


282  REMINISCENCES. 

part  of  Lebanon  society.  This  is  not  saying  that 
there  were  not  intelligent,  educated,  and  refined 
families  in  the  other  churches,  for  there  were 
many;  but  through  the  Dunlevys  and  Corwins 
we  became  more  immediately  acquainted  with  all 
the  Baptists.  Melissa  and  I  were  invited  as  fre- 
quently as  convenient  to  parties,  at  each  of  the 
Baptist  homes,  where  we  met  very  many  intelli- 
gent and  refined  ladies  and  gentlemen.  It  was, 
indeed,  a  great  encouragement  to  us,  under  the 
circumstances,  that  we  were  received,  and,  as  it 
were,  adopted  into  the  best  of  Lebanon  society — 
than  which  no  better  is  to  be  found  anywhere. 

The  school  commenced  on  November  17,  1855, 
about  100  pupils  being  present — 70  in  the  Normal 
Department,  and  30  in  the  Model  School.  This 
Model  School  was  all  secured  through  the  personal 
activity  of  Judge  Dunlevy  and  his  immediate  rela- 
tives. It  was  made  up  of  children  under  12  years 
of  age,  from  all  the  leading  families  in  Lebanon. 
My  assistant  teachers  were  Mr.  J.  N.  Bonham, 

Mr.    H ,   from  Kirtland,   and  Mrs.    Holbrook 

in  the  Model  School.  There  were  two  foreign 
students  present  during  the  first  week  of  the 
school.  These  were  Mr.  Henry  Venable,  now 
of  Chickering  Institute,  Cincinnati,  O.,  and  Mr. 
Crosley,  since,  for  twenty-five  years  and  more,  a 
leading  and  influential  minister  of  the  Universalist 
persuasion.  This  was  rather  a  small  beginning  for 
a  Normal  School,  for  these  really  were  the  only 
Normal  students — the  only  ones  who  expected  to 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  283 

make  teachers  of  themselves.  The  attendance 
from  Lebanon  was  that  of  a  village  high  school. 
By  degrees  other  students  arrived  from  the  sur- 
rounding country,  and  several  from  Brown  County, 
drawn  by  the  influence  of  the  agent  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  who  had  been  appointed  to  lecture 
and  canvass  Brown  County  and  other  counties  in 
the  southwestern  part  of  the  .State,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  students.  No  special  accommo- 
dation had  been  provided  for  students  from  abroad, 
but,  several  coming  in,  I  found  it  necessary  to  rent 
rooms  and  furnish  them  for  self-boarding.  I  was 
hardly  able,  at  this  stage  of  affairs,  to  rent  a  build- 
ing, and  none  of  the  citizens  were  willing  to  rent 
rooms  in  their  dwellings  for  the  use  of  Normal 
students;  hence  the  rooms  that  I  obtained  and 
furnished  were  chiefly  in  abandoned  shops  or  in 
some  unused  wings  of  deserted  houses.  The 
furniture  and  bedding  were  supplied  by  myself, 
and  the  rooms  fitted  up,  under  my  own  immedi- 
ate attention,  by  my  three  boys,  the  oldest  being 
12  years  of  age.  Such  rooms,  with  their  very 
meager  furniture,  including  a  bed  and  two  chairs, 
a  table  and  second-hand  cooking-stove,  were  ac- 
cepted thankfully  by  those  who  had  come  for  the 
purpose  of  Normal  School  instruction.  No  com- 
fortable board  could  be  obtained  in  the  place  for 
less  than  $5  a  week.  This  fact  in  itself,  of  course, 
prevented  any  very  large  attendance  on  the  plan 
of  hiring  board  and  lodging.  Several  families  in 
the  neighborhood  brought  their  children,  rented 


284  REMINISCENCES. 

furnished  rooms,  and  brought  in  supplies  for  them. 
Thus  the  year  went  on ;  the  agent  sent  in  several, 
perhaps  twenty,  pupils  from  Brown  County,  and 
possibly  some  from  other  localities ;  but  he  secured 
their  tuition  money  in  advance,  .leaving  me  to  fur- 
nish the  instruction  and  to  take  care  of  their  board- 
ing accommodations  on  my  own  responsibility  and 
at  my  own  expense. 

The  experiment  thus  far,  as  I  had  my  two  teach- 
ers to  pay,  was  not  particularly  promising.  When 
the  time  of  the  summer  vacation  drew  near,  I  ad- 
vertised an  Institute  of  five  weeks  as  a  part  of  the 
regular  work  of  the  Normal  School.  I  had  previ- 
ously, however,  secured  the  aid  of  several  worthy 
gentlemen  in  conducting  the  Institute.  A  com- 
mittee of  young  men  from  the  school  canvassed 
the  town  to  ascertain  how  many  could  be  accom- 
modated during  the  Institute  term,  counting  rate 
for  board  and  room  at  $2.25  per  week.  Accom- 
modations were  promised  for  about  seventy-five 
students  at  this  price.  The  Lebanon  House  also 
would  furnish  board  and  lodging  for  $2.50,  two 
in  a  room,  or  $3.00  per  week,  one  in  a  room. 
Accommodations  for  about  one  hundred  foreign 
students  were  thus  secured.  As  the  time  for  the 
Institute  drew  near,  however,  I  was  informed  in 
various  ways  that  this  family  and  that  family  would 
not  be  able  to  take  boarders  as  they  had  agreed. 
In  fact  I  discovered  that  it  was  the  general  feeling 
that  $2. 25  was  not  sufficient  compensation  for  the 
time,  expense,  and  labor  of  keeping  boarders. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  285 

This  was  a  dilemma.  My  advertisements  were 
out,  my  character  was  at  stake,  and  the  prospect 
was  anything  but  cheering.  Receiving  word  from 
various  quarters  of  the  proposed  attendance  of  a 
large  number  of%students,  much  larger  than  the 
boarding  accommodations  thus  cut  short  could 
supply,  I  held, a  council  with  my  wife  as  to  how 
we  should  meet  the  difficulties  in  this  emergency. 
My  first  step  was  to  rent  a  large  vacant  building 
on  the  corner  of  Mulberry  and  Mechanic  Streets, 
in  which  there  might  be  accommodated  possibly 
sixty  students,  two  in  a  room.  The  building  was 
somewhat  dilapidated,  had  only  been  used  in  part 
for  offices,  and  was  wholly  without  furniture.  Now, 
within  four  weeks,  this  building  must  be  fitted  up 
with  bedsteads,  tables,  chairs,  changes  of  bedding, 
washstands,  and  some  few  other  conveniences.  I 
proceeded  to  accomplish  the  object  with  the  limited 
means  at  my  command.  I  purchased  a  Wheeler  & 
Wilson  sewing-machine,  for  which  I  paid  $110  in 
Cincinnati,  the  first  sewing-machine  of  any  value 
ever  used  in  Lebanon.  Arriving  at  home,  and 
putting  a  girl  to  work  making  sheets  and  pillow- 
cases, etc.,  the  machine  would  not  work.  Al- 
though warranted,  it  had  not  been  properly  ad- 
justed at  the  manufactory.  This  made  it  neces- 
sary for  me  to  take  the  machine  entirely  apart, 
and  study  all  its  arrangements  and  adjustments, 
and  thus,  having  discovered  the  difficulty,  to  re- 
place the  parts  and  so  adjust -them  that  it  would 
accomplish  its  design.  The  Wheeler  &  Wilson 


286  REMINISCENCES. 

machine  was  at  that  time  very  complicated,  and 
such  was  its  bobbin  and  the  circular  ringer  that 
carried  the  thread  around  the  bobbin  with  the 
proper  tension,  that  it  required  some  considerable 
length  of  time  in  experiment  to  accomplish  the 
necessary  adjustment.  At  length  it  was  done; 
the  machine  worked  well.  But  for  my  early 
mechanical  training  in  Boston  and  New  York, 
much  expense  and  delay  would  have  ensued. 
The  girl  that  I  employed  to  sew  with  the  ma- 
chine being  utterly  inexperienced,  was  displaced 
by  my  wife.  She  succeeded,  however,  with  her 
own  hands  and  feet,  in  fitting  up  thirty  beds, 
making  herself  the  ticks,  sheets,  pillowcases,  bed- 
covers, and  pillows.  Thus  this  difficulty  was,  in  a 
measure,  overcome.  I  found  myself  prepared  to 
receive  students  as  they  came  in,  it  being  sup- 
posed that  most  of  them  would  occupy  these 
rooms,  boarding  themselves,  or  that  those  who 
preferred  would  take  their  meals  at  the  hotel. 
At  the  close  of  a  week  at  the  hotel,  a  committee 
was  sent  to  me  to  inform  me  that  the  board  at  the 
hotel  was  unsatisfactory,  and  that  better  arrange- 
ments must  be  made,  or  the  large  number  who 
were  boarding  there  would  be  obliged  to  leave  the 
Institute.  I  was  then  occupying  the  property 
owned  by  Dr.  Elliott,  opposite  the  Methodist 
Church.  Consulting  with  my  wife,  we  concluded 
it  was  necessary  to  offer  these  teachers  table-board 
in  our  own  house.  Additional  tableware  must  be 
furnished,  and  other  arrangements  made,  in  order 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       28/ 

to  accommodate  about  seventy  with  table-board ; 
and  our  dining-room  and  sitting-room  were  both 
crowded  two  or  three  times  in  succession  at  each 
meal  with  those  whom  we  were  striving  to  make 
comfortable.  Most  of  them  retained  their  lodg- 
ings at  the  hotel,  but  took  their  meals  with  us. 
Of  course,  this  new  burden  fell  upon  my  wife, 
with  such  untrained  help  as  she  could  engage,  ex- 
temporize, and  manage.  This  difficulty  being  sur- 
mounted, the  Institute  proceeded,  and,  on  the 
whole,  was  a  decided  success,  in  everything  but 
the  finances,  most  of  the  income  having  been  ab- 
sorbed by  the  agent  of  the  Institute.  In  footing 
up  the  income  and  outgoes  of  the  year,  and  the 
amount  that  I  had  actually  received  and  expended 
for  the  support  of  my  family,  my  wife  teaching  six 
hours  and  I  seven  hours  per  day,  we  found  that  we 
had  only  applied  to  our  own  use  and  support  $320; 
whatever  other  income  there  was  being  used  to  pay 
the  two  teachers,  or  held  by  the  agent  as  compen- 
sation for  his  services.  This  result  of  our  first 
year's  income  was  much  worse  financially  than  we 
expected,  for  we  had  assumed  that  the  agent  would 
receive  a  per  cent,  for  his  services,  and  that  the 
school  would  be  sustained  by  the  bulk  of  his  re- 
ceipts. Instead  of  this,  the  agent  retained  all  the 
money  that  he  had  received,  and  we  were  left  to 
take  care  of  ourselves,  and  give  instruction  to  the 
students  that  he  sent,  without  receiving  any  com- 
pensation for  the  labor  and  expense  involved. 
Many  of  the  circumstances  connected  with  the 


288  REMINISCENCES. 

action  of  the  Trustees  in  regard  to  the  continuation- 
of  the  school  I  shall  omit;  but  it  is  due,  perhaps, 
that  I  should  mention  that  I  discovered  a  con- 
spiracy, on  the  part  of  the  Trustees,  going  on 
during  the  Institute,  by  which,  according  to  their 
own  acknowledgment,  I,  who  had  made  a  success- 
of  establishing  the  school,  was  to  be  ousted,  and 
one  of  their  number  placed  in  charge.  They  had 
hazarded  nothing,  and  expended  very  little.  Now, 
the  constitution  that  I  had  drawn  up  made  the 
students  in  attendance  electors  for  the  Board  of 
Trustees.  Judge  Dunlevy  was  the  first  one  who 
revealed  to  me  that  the  Trustees  were  determined 
to  dislodge  me.  In  fact,  he  had  been  consulted 
on  the  subject,  and  had  yielded  enough  to  the 
proposals  and  intentions  of  those  in  the  conspiracy 
to  get  the  whole  matter  out  of  them.  I  felt  secure 
of  the  election  of  three  Trustees  favorable  to  my 
continuance,  instead  of  those  whose  term  had  ex- 
pired by  the  Constitution,  and  with  such  agencies 
as  were  at  my  command,  made  certain  the  election 
of  such  men.  When  the  election  came  ofT,  the 
result  was  as  I  had  expected.  Three  of  the  old 
Trustees  were  dropped,  and  three  new  ones 
elected,  favorable  to  my  continuance.  Thus  oc- 
curred a  tie  in  the  Board.  That  I  had  left  a  good 
position,  as  good  as  any  of  the  Trustees  occupied ; 
that  I  had  risked  everything ;  that  I  had  even  to 
risk  my  reputation  as  an  educator,  with  little  or 
no  encouragement  from  them;  that  I  had  made  a 
success  in  spite  of  one  of  their  Trustees,  the  agent, 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       289 

taking  a  large  proportion  of  the  money,  instead  of 
putting  it  into  the  treasury, — were  considerations 
of  little  moment.  But  that  a  good  position  was  to 
be  had,  with  little  or  no  expense,  or  risk,  on  their 
part,  which  I  had  made  by  my  own  enterprise,  was 
a  matter  of  chief  consideration.  After  the  election, 
at  the  Board  meeting,  some  unimportant  matters 
being  disposed  of,  the  election  of  the  Principal  for 
the  second  year  was  in  order.  Judge  Dunlevy, 
being  one  of  the  Board,  arose,  and  commenced 
offering  a  resolution  for  my  reelection  for  the  sec- 
ond year.  He  had  been  apprised  of  the  course 
that  the  three  in  opposition  would  take  when  this 
measure  was  proposed,  and  was  ready  for  the 
emergency.  Their  plan  was  this :  Knowing  that, 
with  the  President  of  the  Board,  I  would  be  elected, 
they  had  agreed  secretly  to  leave  the  meeting  before 
the  motion  could  be  acted  upon,  and  thus  defeat 
my  reelection,  even  though  it  should  destroy  the 
whole  enterprise.  The  moment  Judge  Dunlevy 
offered  the  resolution,  the  President  put  it  to  vote, 
and,  before  they  could  get  their  hats,  and  get  out 
of  the  room,  it  was  decided  that  Holbrook  was 
elected  for  the  second  year.  Those  three  gentle- 
men never  appeared  as  members  of  the  Board 
afterward,  nor  did  they  send  in  their  resignations. 
The  four  members  of  the  Board  remaining  con- 
tinued, however,  to  transact  the  business,  all  that 
was  necessary,  until  the  election  of  the  new  Board, 
on  the  succeeding  year.  The  agent  was  one  of  the 
recalcitrant  members,  and  his  labors  were  thus 
19 


29O  REMINISCENCES. 

dispensed  with,  and  whatever  receipts  came  in 
from  the  students  went  into  the  treasury  of  the 
Institution. 

It  was  then  a  custom,  not  entirely  out  of  vogue 
now,  among  examiners  to  take  an  interest  in  party 
politics  in  the  county  in  which  they  are  elected. 
One  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Normal 
was  a  county  examiner  in  Montgomery  County. 
Through  the  connivance  of  the  other  county 
officers  of  the  same  party,  he  was  accustomed  to 
sell  the  best  positions  for  teachers  in  the  county 
to  creatures  of  his  own,  receiving  a  per  cent,  of 
the  salary  of  the  teachers  so  appointed,  or,  if  you 
please,  arranged  for  by  himself.  The  six  or  eight 
best  positions,  that  paid  the  most  in  Montgomery 
County,  were  those  chiefly,  as  he  supposed,  under 
his  control.  If  it  should  so  happen  that,  in  spite 
of  his  personal  manipulation,  the  district  or  union 
school  should  select  a  teacher  for  itself,  then  such 
a  teacher  was  usually  prevented  from  filling  his 
contract  by  those  managing  the  county  examina- 
tion. One  way  in  which  this  was  done  revealed 
itself  at  this  first  Institute  in  Lebanon.  Without 
having  any  detectives,  I  had  friends  in  attendance 
who  were  willing  to  keep  me  posted  on  the  meas- 
ures which  were  secretly  going  on  under  the  direc- 
tion or  connivance  of  this  first  Board  of  Trustees. 
A  certain  student  from  Montgomery  County 
entered,  paid  his  tuition,  but  attended  no  classes 
regularly.  I  was  told  that  he  was  using  this  time 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  such  teachers  from 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       29! 

Montgomery  County,  or  elsewhere,,  as  would  fill 
those  leading  places  in  that  county,  and  these  po- 
sitions were,  in  a  certain  sense,  set  up  at  private 
sale,  not  at  public  auction,  to  those  who  would 
give  the  largest  part  of  their  salary.  Men  were 
selected  from  those  present,  with  their  written 
pledge  that,  if  they  obtained  these  positions,  they 
would  pay  from  ten  to  twenty  per  cent,  to  this 
Trustee,  who  claimed  to  be  the  leading  examiner 
from  Montgomery  County.  Moreover,  those  who 
had  pledged  themselves,  in  this  manner,  were  as- 
sured that  they  would  secure  good  certificates  at 
the  coming  examination  in  that  county,  on  the 
following  plan  :  The  questions  of  the  examination 
were  in  the  hands  of  this  agent  of  the  Examining 
Board,  and  copies  were  given  to  all  of  those  who 
were  expecting  positions.  They  would  thus  have 
opportunity  to  prepare  especially  on  those  ques- 
tions in  the  different  branches  for  the  examination ; 
whereas,  those  who  did  not  have  the  questions  in 
advance,  because  of  the  difficulty  or  unfairness  of 
the  questions,  either  failed  of  getting  certificates, 
or  received  such  meager  testimony  of  their  ability 
as  would  cut  them  off  from  the  positions  for  which 
they  had  contracted.  Mr.  F was  in  attend- 
ance at  the  Institute,  as  pupil  teacher,  a  gentleman 
of  fine  abilities,  and  very  considerable  experience 
as  a  teacher,  at  that  time,  thirty  years  ago.  With 
a  recommendation  from  me,  he  made  application 
for  the  superintendency  of  the  graded  schools,  at 
Germantown,  Montgomery  County.  His  appli- 


292  REMINISCENCES. 

cation  was  favorably  received,  and  a  contract  was 
made,  conditional,'  of  course,  upon  his  success  at 
the  county  examination,  at  Dayton.  He  attended 
the  examination,  but  received,  in  due  time,  a  cer- 
tificate for  six  months,  the  least  time  that  the  law 

provided  for.     This  was  what  Mr.   F and  I 

expected.  The  salary,  at  Germantown,  was  $1,000 
a  year,  and  a  matter  of  some  consideration  to  most 

teachers.     When  Mr.  F received  a  certificate 

for  six  months,  the  longest  time  being  for  two 
years,  he  brought  the  certificate  to  me,  and  we 
held  a  consultation.  The  result  of  our  mutual 
opinions  and  views,  was  that  he  should  go  to- 
Dayton,  and  secure  the  services  of  the  best  lawyer 
of  the  party  in  power,  and,  through  his  influence,, 
obtain  justice  from  the  Board  of  Examiners.  Mr. 

F ,  however,  first  went  to  the  examiner,  and 

demanded  his  examination  papers,  but  they  were 
refused,  and  he  was  very  curtly  told,  that  if  justice 
had  been  done,  he  would  not  have  had  any  cer- 
tificate at  all.  He  secured  the  services  of  a  lawyer, 
who  first  consulted  with  the  Judge  of  Probate,  and 

then  went  with  Mr.  F to  see  the  examiner  again. 

After  a  short  conversation  between  the  lawyer  and 
the  examiner,  the  latter  filled  out  a  blank  for  a  two 

years'  certificate,  and  handed  it  to  Mr.  F ,  with- 

•out  any  remarks.     The  result  was,  that  Mr.  F 

secured  the  position,  and  the  nominee  of  the  Board 
of  Examiners  was  rejected. 

The  narration  of  this  case  brings  to  mind  a  simi- 
lar one  which  occurred  in  Chardon  while  I  was 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       293 

teaching  there.    One  of  the  examiners,  Mr.  G , 

was  conducting  a  private  school  at  Burton,  and  it 
was  his  custom  to  bring  several  of  his  student?  to 
the  examination,  who  had  evidently  been  previ- 
ously carefully  drilled  on  his  list  of  questions  in 
grammar  and  arithmetic.  These  were  presented 
for  the  examination  of  the  entire  body  of  appli- 
cants for  certificates.  These  questions  were  pre- 
pared for  a  special  purpose  of  tripping  those  who 
were  not  in  the  Burton  school.  These  questions 
involved  no  principles,  but  were  made  up  of 
catches  and  ambiguities,  which  might  be  answered 
in  this  way  or  that  way.  The  result  was,  that  in- 
stead of  increasing  his  school,  the  general  in- 
dignation thus  aroused,  compelled  his  patrons  in 
Burton  to  dismiss  him  from  his  position. 

In  those  days,  institutes  were  not  conducted  to 
any  extent  by  examiners,  nor  was  there  any  county 
fund  collected  from  teachers,  or  provided  for  other- 
wise to  sustain  county  institutes.  The  present 
arrangement  of  the  .accumulation  of  county  funds 
under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Examiners  has 
led  to  a  very  general  abuse  of  the  examiners' 
power  in  granting  or  withholding  certificates  to 
those  whom  they  wish  to  favor  or  injure.  The 
general  complaint  of  this  abuse  has  called  for  a 
law  which  forbids  any  persons  who  are  teaching 
teachers  to  -act  as  examiners.  For  lack  of  any 
provision  for  the  execution  of  the  law,  or  for  any 
penalty  upon  the  Judge  of  Probate  for  not  enforc- 
ing the  law,  it  is  to  a  large  extent  inoperative,  and 


REMINISCENCES. 

the  abuse  is  widespread,  and  in  many  cases  largely 
detrimental  to  the  educational  interests  of  the 
county  under  the  domination  of  a  Board  of  un- 
scrupulous examiners. 

More  recently  this  evasion  of  the  law  has  been 
practiced :  The  examiner  who  wishes  to  conduct 
the  county  institute  and  secure  the  larger  part 
of  the  institute  fund,  resigns  just  before  his  insti- 
tute or  normal  begins,  and  is  reappointed  as  soon 
as  it  closes.  Of  course,  the  Judge  of  Probate  is  a 
party  to  this  evasion  of  law,  and  ought  himself  to- 
be  impeached,  but  party  politics  "cover  a  multi- 
tude of  sins." 

I  have  before  stated  that  my  wife  took  charge 
of  the  model  school.  Our  united  efforts  in  mak- 
ing the  model  school  a  means  of  practical  and 
valuable  training  to  the  pupil  teachers,  were  of 
little  value  otherwise  than  to  convince  us  that 
model  schools  are  worse  than  useless  for  any  such 
purpose.  Various  objections  developed  them- 
selves as  our  experiments  proceeded.  We  felt 
that  we  had  every  possible  advantage  for  conduct- 
ing such  a  department.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
enumerate  them. 

The  first  objection  was,  it  seriously  interferes 
with  the  regular  study  and  training  of  the  pupil 
teachers,  while  giving  their  time  to  training  and 
observation  in  the  model  school.  Second  objec- 
tion :  It  is  impossible  to  place  the  pupil  teacher 
under  circumstances  in  the  management  of  a  class 
of  children,  which  are  in  any  sense  equivalent  to 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO. 

the  management  of  a  similar  class  of  children  in 
his  own  school.  For  the  most  difficult  part  of  his 
work,  viz. ,  the  sustentation  of  order,  is  necessarily 
withheld  from  the  pupil  teacher,  and  exercised  by 
the  training  teacher,  thus  defeating  the  chief  ob- 
ject of  the  training  in  the  very  act.  Third  objec- 
tion :  In  the  necessarily  frequent  change  of  pupil 
teachers,  the  children  made  use  of  in  the  model 
school  or  in  a  model  class,  become  so  accustomed 
to  the  regime  of  the  acting,  rather  than  of  the 
reality,  that  such  children  never  behave  as  real 
pupils  do  when  under  the  real  instruction  of  the 
teacher  to  whom  they  feel  themselves  responsible. 
Spontaneity  of  action  is  thus  destroyed,  both  for 
pupil  teacher  and  pupil.  Fourth  objection:  In 
the  very  nature  of  the  case,  this  line  of  training, 
if  it  were  practicable  and  useful  otherwise,  could 
only  be  used  for  any  one  pupil,  in  one  grade  and 
for  but  one  kind  of  class  in  that  grade.  The  man- 
agement of  model  classes,  wherever  they  are 
tolerated,  generally  confines  the  training,  so-called, 
to  the  lowest  grade,  and  to  that  only,  this  class 
of  children  being  those  who  are  the  most  easily 
managed.  Fifth  objection  :  The  assumed  circum- 
stances necessarily  involved  in  this  false  relation 
between  the  children  and  the  pupil  teacher,  have, 
even  under  the  .most  favorable  conditions,  a  de- 
moralizing effect  upon  the  conscience  and  honesty 
of  the  pupils  suffering  by  these  assumptions. 
Sixth  objection  :  The  expenditure  of  time  on  the 
part  of  the  training  teacher,  and  of  the  Principal, 


296  REMINISCENCES. 

under  whom  these  training  exercises  are  conducted, 
make  the  whole  matter  involving  the  time  spent  with 
the  model  classes,  and  the  time  required  for  criti- 
cism, discussion,  correction  and  improvement  of  the 
points  made  or  not  made  in  the  training  exercises, 
too  expensive  altogether,  for  any  good  results  that 
can  come  from  such  a  lavish  waste  of  time  and 
labor  on  the  part  of  the  pupil  teacher,  the  train- 
ing teacher,  and  the  Principal.  Seventh  objec- 
tion :  The  results  from  these  training  schools  with 
model  classes,  or  model  schools,  have  everywhere, 
with,  of  course,  a  few  exceptions,  been  such  as  to 
show  that  every  pupil  thus  trained,  has  really  had 
to  learn  the  whole  business  of  class  management 
and  all  class  instruction  over  again,  independently 
by  himself  and  for  himself,  and  furthermore  with 
the  expense  of  overcoming  and  unlearning  what- 
ever ideas  or  practical  trend  he  had  acquired  from 
a  model  school  training  under  the  supervision  of 
the  training  teacher  or  teachers.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  training  classes  which,  for  years,  I  con- 
ducted in  Berea,  Chardon,  Kirtland  and  Marl- 
borough,  gave  immeasurably  better  results,  in  the 
immediate  success  of  those  thus  trained.  Of  the 
hundreds  who  had  been  thus  trained,  scarcely  a 
failure  had  happened  in  their  first  experience  in 
teaching  and  managing  a  school. t  Remark:  The 
kind  of  mechanical  training  which  model  schools 
under  the  most  favorable  conditions  can  give,  is 
without  the  true  spirit  of  independent  and  en- 
thusiastic management  on  the  part  of  the  teacher. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,   OHIO. 

This  kind  of  training  may  answer  for  the  schools 
of  absolute  Governments  like  Germany,  or  possibly 
for  the  autocratic  management  of  the  charity 
schools  of  England,  but  is  utterly  abortive  with 
the  free  spirits  of  Young  America. 

Our  second  year,  opening  September  i,  1856, 
was,  on  the  whole,  rather  favorable.  While  we 
lost  considerable  attendance  from  the  town,  we 
gained  almost  as  much  in  the  attendance  from 
abroad,  in  the  Normal  Department.  Tl\e  original 
Board  of  Trustees  and  their  agent  had  relieved  us 
of  their  control  and  absorption  of  the  income 
from  the  sale  of  scholarships.  Still  there  were 
many  pupils  attending,  who  had  previously  paid 
the  defunct  agency,  and  were  instructed  at  my  ex- 
pense, yielding  no  returns,  except,  perhaps,  their 
own  good  will,  and  their  personal  influence,  so  far 
as  it  extended,  in  bringing  their  friends  to  the  in- 
stitution. Mr.  B had  been  hired  by  the 

agent  of  the  Normal  School  Association.  He  had 
received  but  a  moiety  of  his  stipulated  salary. 
Disgusted  with  the  treatment  he  had  received 
from  the  Board  of  Trustees,  he  refused  to  continue 
liis  relations  with  the  school,  and  threatened  to 
prosecute  for  his  unpaid  salary.  On  investigation, 
however,  he  found  no  property  belonging  to  the 
Trustees,  and  whatever  there  was  in  the  way  of 
seats  and  desks,  I  had  provided  at  my  own  ex- 
pense, and  whatever  of  library  and  apparatus  there 
was,  I  had  brought  with  me.  The  Association, 
as  represented  by  the  first  Board,  was  thus  virtu- 


298  REMINISCENCES. 

ally  bankrupt  and  defunct.  The  financial  respon- 
sibility, together  with  the  entire  control  of  all  the 
interests  of  the  institution,  henceforth  devolved 
upon  me.  The  new  Board,  being  elected  by  the 
students,  asserted  no  control,  nor  did  they  assume 
any  financial  responsibility.  Any  action  which 
they  took  or  were  inclined  to  take  in  behalf  of  the  ( 

institution  was  such  as  to  give  me,  however,  op- 
portunity to  carry  out  my  own  measures,  and  to 
realize   my  own  plans,  and  reap   the  harvest  of 
whatever  ingenuity,  philosophy  or  labor  I  could 
bestow   in   the   management   of   the   institution. 
During  the  second  year,  several  of  my  pupils  in 
former  schools  came  from  the  North,  and  I  em-  ty_ 
ployed  as  teachers  the  second  year,  J.  H.  Reed,  ^»     l\ 
Miss  Catherine  S.  Morris,  and  also  Miss  Margaret  • . 
Morey,  teacher  of  the  Model  School.      Mr.  Reed* /^      Q 

ft         S»    .     \ 

and  Miss  Morris  had  been  pupils  at  Marlborough ; 
and  were  still  pursuing  their  education  while  act- 
ing as  teachers,  each  about  three  hours  per  day.  Q 
The  number  of  pupils  reported  during  the  second 
year,  including  those  in  the  Model  School,  was 
257.  The  Model  School  supported  itself  during 
this  year,  paying  the  teacher  and  other  expenses, 
but  for  professional  reasons  was  discontinued  at  ""l^ 
the  close  of  the  year.  In  all,  seven  teachers  were 
employed.  Lebanon  furnished  eighty  pupils  in 
the  Normal  School,  besides  twenty-six  in  the  ^ 

Model  Department. 

During  these  first  two  years,  it  was  with  much 
difficulty  that  suitable  accommodations  could  be 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       299 

secured  for  dormitories.  The  citizens  of  Leba- 
non refusing  to  rent  rooms  to  students,  I  was 
compelled  to  rent  such  buildings  and  rooms  as 
could  find  no  other  occupants.  I  furnished  these 
plainly,  for  self-boarding,  and  thus,  most  students 
coming  from  beyond  Lebanon  boarded  them- 
selves in  these  rented  buildings.  Others,  how- 
ever, paid  at  the  rate  of  $5  per  week,  for  full 
accommodations  in  private  families. 

It  was  during  this  year  that  a  rather  exciting 
conflict  with  the  county  examiners  took  place,  on 
the  subject  of  grammar.  The  member  of  the 
Board  who  had  charge  of  this  subject,  contended 
that  passive  verbs  were  intransitive,  while  the 
pupils  of  the  normal  school,  without  exception, 
parsed  them  as  transitive.  He  marked  them  as 
defective,  continuously,  and  diminished  their  grades 
and  their  standing  in  view  of  this  difference  of 
opinion.  This  was  not  a  little  annoying  to  me, 
as  the  gentleman  who  had  charge  of  this  was  one 
of  the  pastors  of  the  town,  and  in  every  other 
way  a  competent  and  respectable  gentleman.  But 
it  became  a  question  in  my  mind  whether  I  should 
succumb  to  his  false  views,  as  I  considered  them, 
or  take  such  measures  as  would  drive  him  from 
his  position.  I  concluded  tot  take  the  latter  course. 

Having  instructed   Miss  M— ,  naturally  a  very       ,  ,.^. 

quick  thinker,  and  of  amiable  and  winning  man- 
ners, I  sent  her  in  to  the  examination.      It  hap--  ' 
pened  that  the  examination  in  grammar  on  that 
occasion  was  oral,  giving  Miss  M an  oppor- 


3OO  REMINISCENCES. 

tunity  to  present  her  views  in  accordance  also 
with  mine,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  place  the  worthy 
examiner  entirely  at  fault,  both  with  the  other 
examiners  and  with  the  large  body  of  pupil 
teachers  present.  Our  pupils  thenceforth  were 
never  marked  with  unfair  grades  for  calling  pas- 
sive verbs  transitive.  Those  who  have  given  any 
attention  to  this  matter  will  realize  at  once,  that 
this  error  of  the  learned  gentleman  came  from  the 
false  and  yet  very  prevalent  definition  of  the  transi- 
tive verb,  viz.:  a  transitive  verb  is  one  which 
takes  an  object  after  it  to  complete  its  meaning. 
The  word  after  in  this  case  was  the  misleading 
point  in  the  definition.  Passive  verbs  always  take 
their  objects  before  them  as  their  subjects. 

During  the  third  year,  the  Normal  School  proper 
enrolled  335  different  pupils,  of  whom  85  were  resi- 
dents in  Lebanon.  The  table  of  statistics,  given  as 
appertaining  to  the  school,  is  as  follows:  The  value 
of  buildings,  $10,000;  the  apparatus  in  use,  $1,200; 
number  of  volumes  in  Reference  Library,  300.  It 
was  during  this  year  that  the  periodical  called  The 
Normal  Methods  began  to  be  issued  in  quarterly 
numbers.  This  periodical  continued  for  two  years. 
I  then  published  it  in  one  volume,  called  The  Nor- 
mal Methods  of  Teaching.  The  State  Commis- 
sioner, Mr.  Anson  Smythe,  under  authority  of  the 
State,  purchased  from  me,  as  publisher,  fifteen 
hundred  volumes,  to  supply  the  schools  of  the 
State.  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  who 
were  already  publishing  some  dozen  different  vol- 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       3OI 

umes  upon  pedagogics,  then  assumed  the  publi- 
cation of  my  book;  and  I  have  been  assured  a 
number  of  times,  by  agents  of  that  house,  that 
The  Normal  Methods  had  secured  a  wider  sale 
than  any  of  their  pedagogical  publications,  except, 
perhaps,  Page's  Theory  and  Practice.  The  wide 
sale  of  this  book  for  Institute  use,  and  for  train- 
ing purposes  in  Normal  Schools,  contributed  very 
largely  to  the  building  up  of  this  Institution  in 
each  successive  year  up  to  1861.  I  find,  by  con- 
sulting the  several  catalogues  of  the  respective 
years,  that  the  school  increased  regularly  in  its 
attendance.  The  assembly  room  of  the  Academy, 
during  the  fourth  year,  proved  too  small  to  accom- 
modate all  the  students  at  one  time,  thus  prevent- 
ing the  full  advantage  of  our  general  exercises.  By 
a  vote  of  the  Town  Council,  I  was  permitted  to  use 
the  Washington  Hall  as  an  assembly  room,  by- 
agreeing  to  pay  rent  double  of  that  which  had 
been  paid  before,  at  the  same  time  receiving  my- 
self all  the  avails  for  the  use  of  the  hall  for  even- 
ing lectures  and  other  purposes.  These  receipts 
nearly  or  quite  canceled  the  rent.  During  this, 
the  fourth  year,  1859,  pupils  were  present  from 
Maine,  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  Iowa,  In- 
diana, Illinois,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio.  The  whole 
number  of  different  pupils  was  360.  The  number 
of  teachers  employed  7.  Several  additional  build- 
ing were  rented,  and  fitted  up  for  dormitories. 
This  became  necessary  from  the  increased  attend- 
ance from  abroad,  while  the  attendance  from  town 


3O2  REMINISCENCES. 

proportionately  diminished  (on  the  principle,  doubt- 
less, that  "a  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in 
his  own  country  and  among  his  own  people"). 
The  rent  of  a  furnished  room,  without  carpet,  for 
each  pupil,  at  this  period,  was  sixty  cents  per 
week,  the  tuition  being  $8.33  per  session  of  eleven 
weeks.  In  the  fifth  year,  1860,  375  pupils  were 
enrolled,  10  teachers  employed,  and  fifty  weeks 
were  occupied  for  the  school  year,  viz.,  four  terms 
of  eleven  weeks,  and  an  Institute  of  six  weeks. 
The  tuition  was  raised  this  year  to  $10  per  session. 
During  the  first  year  of  the  war,  the  sixth  of  the 
school,  1861,  the  number  of  pupils  enrolled  was 
272 ;  the  number  of  teachers  9.  This  being  the 
first  year  of  the  war,  many  of  the  male  students 
volunteered,  and  left  for  the  army,  thus  dimin- 
ishing the  attendance  and  the  income.  My  two 
sons,  Josiah  and  Reg.  Heber,  were  among  the  first 
who  volunteered,  one  being  seventeen  and  the 
other  sixteen  years  of  age. 

During  the  seventh  year  of  the  school,  repeated 
calls  from  the  President  for  volunteers,  in  behalf 
of  the  country's  safety,  reduced  the  entire  attend- 
ance for  the  year  to  220;  the  number  of  teachers 
employed,  6.  During  the  eighth  year,  1863,  pu- 
pils enrolled  were  304;  teachers  employed,  6. 
The  income  not  being  adequate  to  support  the 
board  of  teachers,  Prof.  W.  D.  Henke,  having 
filled  the  Chair  of  Mathematics  for  three  years, 
left  the  Normal  to  take  charge  of  the  Lebanon 
Union  School. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  303 

During  the  ninth  year,  1864,  pupils  enrolled 
472 ;  teachers  employed,  7.  The  first  graduating 
class,  nine  in  all,  took  their  diplomas.  The  cur- 
riculum of  this  class  was  equivalent  to  that  of  our 
present  College  of  Science.  The  Business  Depart- 
ment was  also  established,  giving  a  very  full  and 
practical  course  of  business  operations,  including 
all  the  branches  necessary  in  business  correspond- 
ence, business  calculations,  and  the  management 
of  any  set  of  books,  whatever,  in  any  kind  of 
business.  During  the  tenth  year,  1865,  when  the 
war  closed,  the  number  of  pupils  enrolled,  612; 
number  of  teachers  employed,  10;  scientific  grad- 
uates, 14;  business  graduates,  47.  During  this 
year  a  full  College  Course  was  introduced,  with  7 
pupils  in  the  Senior  or  Classic  Course.  This  cur- 
riculum, thus  introduced,  was  carried  through 
successfully,  and  all  of  those  who  graduated 
secured  at  once  good  positions  as  teachers  or 
business  men.  The  tuition  was  raised  this  year 
to  $1 1  for  eleven  weeks. 

I  have  spoken  before  of  John  A.  Norris,  who, 
during  1866,  in  his  canvass  for  the  State  Com- 
missionership,  visited  me  two  or  three  times.  I 
was  led  with  more  confidence  to  adopt  the  full 
college  curriculum  in  half  the  time  of  other  insti- 
tutions, as  he  had,  without  special  effort  or  injury 
to  his  health,  accomplished  the  six  years'  course 
.at  Kenyon  in  two  years  and  a  half.  The  number 
of  students  in  the  College  Department  for  this  year 
were:  Graduates  in  the  Classic  Class,  7;  gradu- 


304  REMINISCENCES. 

ates  in  the  Scientific  Class,  8;  undergraduates. 
Senior  or  Classic  Class,  8 ;  undergraduates  in  the 
Junior  or  Scientific  Class,  47.  It  was  during  that 
year  that  I  commenced  the  publication  of  an  edu- 
cational monthly  called  The  Normal.  My  son, 
Reginald  Heber,  was  the  editor.  During  this 
year  I  made  my  first  purchase  of  buildings  for 
dormitories — one  in  West  Lebanon,  that  I  named 
the  ''Eureka";  the  other  on  Main  Street,  which 
I  named  the  "Deuterian."  The  Eureka  con- 
tained eight  rooms,  and  was  occupied  by  both 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  with  no  teacher  or  other 
person  in  the  building  to  whom  they  felt  them- 
selves responsible. 

Leaving  now,  for  the  time,  these  statistical 
facts,  I  will  give  a  few  characteristic  circum- 
stances, endeavoring  thus  to  exemplify  the 
method  of  management  pursued.  In  this  build- 
ing, the  Eureka,  at  the  time  I  am  now  speaking 
of,  there  were  four  rooms  occupied  by  ladies  and 
four  by  gentlemen,  two  in  each  room.  One  of 
the  rooms  was  occupied  by  two  ladies  from  the 
vicinity  of  Cincinnati,  who  had  previously  spent 
considerable  time  at  a  ladies'  boarding-school, 
but,  their  father  being  embarrassed  by  going 
security  for  a  neighbor,  they  had  thought  it  nec- 
essary to  prepare  for  teaching,  in  order  to  relieve 
their  father  of  their  support.  I  shall  call  these 
ladies  Sarah  and  Susan  Jones.  There  had  been 
brought  to  me,  by  her  brother,  another  young 
lady  from  a  boarding-school  at  Oxford,  the  brother 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       305 

himself  being  a  student  of  Miami  University. 
From  what  I  could  learn  from  the  brother,  his 
sister  had  not  been  comporting  herself  according 
to  his  wishes,  in  her  school  relations,  and  had  given 
her  teacher  and  himself  very  considerable  anxiety. 
It  was  evident,  from  his  conversation,  without  his 
especially  committing  himself  unfavorably  to  his 
sister,  that  she  had  been  a  pretty  wild  girl  in  her 
boarding-school  experience.  In  reflecting  on  what 
course  should  be  taken  to  correct,  if  possible,  or 
to  neutralize  her  boarding-school  training,  I  con- 
cluded to  place  her  in  this  Eureka  building,  en- 
tirely relieved  from  any  supervision  of  any  teacher 
whatever,  thinking  that  it  was  possible  that  this, 
boarding-school  espionage  and  overdone  watchful- 
ness on  her  moral  and  social'  character  had  been 
the  cause  of  her  dereliction.  I  transferred  one 
lady  from  this  building  to  another,  and  placed 

Miss  N with  a  sedate  and  reliable  young  lady. 

as  her  roommate.  In  those  days,  when  we  used 
Saturday  as  our  vacant  day,  our  literary  exercises 
occurred  weekly,  on  Friday  night,  and  often  lasted 
until  10  or  1 1  o'clock.  It  was,  perhaps,  the  first 

evening  exercise  of  this  kind  that  Miss  N had 

attended,  and,  in  walking  from  the  Academy  ta 
her  room,  about  half  a  mile  distant,  it  was  noticed 
by  the  other  young  ladies  going  from  the  same 
place  to  the  same  house,  that  orie  of  the  young 

men  rooming  there,  in  walking  with  Miss  N , 

was,   by  some  means  or  other,  walking  with  his- 
arm  around   her  waist.     The   ladies,    of  course, 
20 


3O6  REMINISCENCES. 

could  say  nothing  about  it  while  this  transaction 
was  going  on;  but,  when  they  arrived  at  the 
Eureka,  they  called  an  indignation  meeting  in  the 
room  of  the  Misses  Jones,  and,  passing  proper 
resolutions,  appointed  Miss  Susan  a  committee 
to  wait  upon  me,  to  inform  me  of  the  conduct  of 

Miss  N .     Miss  Susan  called  upon  me  the  next 

morning,  and,  in  the  capacity  of  committee,  laid 
before  me  the  whole  affair,  including  -the  indigna- 
tion meeting  of  the  young  ladies  in  her  room.  I 
listened,  with  no  little  interest,  to  Miss  Susan's 
statement.  When  she  had  closed  her  remarks,  I 
sat  deliberating,  for  a  minute  or  two,  as  to  what 
was  the  best  course  to  pursue  in  order  to  help  this 
boarding-school  girl  to  recover  her  position  in  the 
esteem  of  the  young  ladies,  and  to  restore  her  to 
the  ordinary  usages  of  good  society.  While  I  was 
thus  reflecting,  Miss  Susan  said:  "  Well,  Mr.  Hol- 
.brook,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  Said 
I:  "Miss  Susan,  I  am  not  going  to  do  anything 
about  it."  Rising  in  her  full  height,  in  the  vigor 
of  her  womanhood,  she  addressed  me,  as  nearly 
as  I  can  remember,  in  these  words:  "What!  Mr. 
Holbrook,  are  we  to  understand  that  young  ladies 
attending  this  school  are  to  be  tolerated  or  en^ 
couraged  in  such  loose  and  disgraceful  conduct  on 
the  open  streets  of  the  town  ?  Are  we,  who  have 
been  better  brought  up,  to  be  'informed  that  we 
have  no  protection  from  a  class  of  girls  who,  it 
seems,  know  no  better,  or  desire  to  do  no  better? 
Is  the  building  in  which  we  are  placed  by  your 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,   OHIO.  3O/ 

authority  to  suffer  the  reproach  of  such  disgraceful 
conduct,  and  those  of  us  who  conduct  ourselves 
properly  to  suffer  under  the  reproach  of  such  girls 
as  Miss  N ?"  I  replied:  "Miss  Susan,  noth- 
ing could  gratify  me  more  than  the  remarks  which 
you  have  just  made.  It  is  from  the  fact  that  you 
young  ladies  at  the  Eureka  are  well  raised  and  well 
behaved,  and  are  in  my  estimation  perfect  ladies, 
that  I  placed  this  boarding-school  girl  in  that  build- 
ing, virtually  under  your  influence;  and  it  will  prove 
very  fortunate  for  her,  that  she  has  found  sisters, 
classmates,  who  will  have  infinitely  better  influence 
upon  her  than  any  of  her  teachers  have  ever  been 
able  to  exert.  If  there  is  any  salvation  for  her, 
you  will  prove  her  best  friends.  You  ladies  of  the 
Eureka,  according  to  your  own  representations, 
have  done  what  I  wish  you  to  have  done.  You 
have  united  yourselves  in  a  band  for  self-protec- 
tion, and  have  thus  asserted  your  characters,  and 
demonstrated  that  the  conduct  of  young  ladies  and 
gentlemen  in  school  need  be  no  worse  under  school 
or  college  influence,  than  the  conduct  of  the  same 
ladies  and  gentlemen  would  be  in  their  own  homes, 
surrounded  by  the  ordinary  moral  and  social  re- 
straints of  home  life.  I  was  satisfied  when  Miss 
N came  here  that,  so  far  as  she  had  retro- 
graded from  her  home  conduct,  it  was  attributable 
entirely  to  her  mismanagement  at  school,  and  for 
this  reason  I  placed  her  in  that  building,  entirely 
beyond  the  supervision  of  teachers,  in  order  that 
she  might  be  relieved  of  that  kind  of  suspicion  and 


3O8  REMINISCENCES. 

espionage  which  evidently  had  been  the.  cause  of 
her  misconduct.  Now,  Miss  Susan,  you  no  doubt 
were  a  lady  (as  you  are  now)  in  your  school 
life,  but  you  will  certainly  not  say  that  all  the 
young  ladies  conducted  themselves  properly  under 
boarding-school  rules  and  spies.  If  you  please, 
what  did  you  expect  me  to  do,  under  the  circum- 
stances, in  order  to  protect  you  from  the  further 

misconduct  of  Miss  N ?     Permit  me  to  say 

what  I  suppose  you  thought  I  would  do.  It  was 
simply  this :  That  I  would,  in  the  first  place,  call 

Miss  N to  my  office,  and  give  her  a  serious 

lecture.  In  the  second  place,  that  I  would  bring 
up  her  case  openly  and  personally  at  'General 
Exercises, '  and  there  give  her  another  excoriation. 
Now,  Miss  Susan,  this  is  the  very  course  which 
has  embittered  that  girl  against  school  life,  and 
has  been  the  cause  of  her  unfortunate  conduct, 
and,  if  continued,  it  would  probably  be  her  ruin, 
as  it  has  been  the  ruin  of  many  other  good  and 
worthy  girls.  If  you  please,  just  let  the  matter 
rest  right  here.  You  young  ladies  have  already 
made  Miss  N- understand  that  you  do  not  ap- 
prove of  it,  and  she,  no  doubt,  is  expecting  some 
serious  conflict  with  the  authorities  of  the  school, 
and  she  has  prepared  herself  for  it.  Let  us  dis- 
appoint her,  and,  in  due  time,  if  the  plan  does  not 
work  well,  report  to  me  again.  If  it  does  work 
well,  I  should  like  to  know,  of  course,  and  shall 
then  give  you  the  credit  of  having  restored  the  girl 
to  her  right  mind ;  for,  in  my  opinion,  Miss  N 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  309 

was,  before  she  left  home,  a  good  girl,  but  a  very 
spirited  one,  and  just  such  a  one  as  would  be  in- 
jured by  the  ill-advised  restrictions  and  regulations 
of  boarding-school  life." 

Miss  Susan  replied:  "Mr.  Holbrook,  I  don't, 
know  but  what  you  are  right,  but  I  am  very  much 
afraid  it  will  not  work.  I  am  afraid  she  is  a  bad 
girl.  I  don't  think  she  is  a  lost  girl,  by  any  means ; 
but  I  am  afraid  she  has  gone  so  far  in  her  lawless- 
ness, that  her  case  is  almost  hopeless."  "Well, 
Miss  Susan,  if  you  please,  let  us  try  this  plan. 
Tell  all  the  young  ladies  that  I  thank  them  for 

their  interest  in  Miss  N ,  and  for  sending  you 

as  their. committee  to  report  to  me." 

The  result  was  that  the  young  ladies  had  no 

further  reason  to  complain  of  Miss  N .  She 

behaved  as  well  as  any  of  them  when  she  found 
that  she  was  just  as  free  to  do  right  in  her  school 
life,  as  she  was  in  her  home  life.  The  names  here 
given,  of  course,  are  assumed,  as  the  persons  are 
all  living,  I  believe,  and  only  they  are  likely  to 
recognize  the  line*  of  incidents  here  described. 

A  circumstance  occurred  about  the  same  time 
with  a  gentleman  from  one  of  the  Ohio  colleges. 
He  came  here  to  prepare  himself  for  teaching,  in 
order  to  get  funds  to  go  on  with  his  college  course. 
He  entered  the  Teachers'  Department  about  the 
middle  of  the  term  for  eleven  weeks.  At  the  close 
*  of  the  term,  when  he  had  five  weeks  yet  due  him 
in  the  Normal  School,  I  told  the  gentleman,  whom 
I  will  call  Mr.  Smith,  that  I  was  about  to  form  a 


3IO  REMINISCENCES. 

class  in  Greek,  of  twelve  pupils  who  had  given 
their  names  for  that  purpose.  Said  I :  "Mr.  Smith, 
I  have  understood  from  you  that  you  have  been 
studying  Greek  six  months  at  your  college,  and 
that  you  have  made  it  a  specialty  somewhat.  Now 
I  want  to  ask  you  to  be  present  at  the  organiza- 
tion of  my  Greek  class,  and  see  for  yourself  that 
no  one  of  those  who  are  commencing  the  study 
knows  even  the  Greek  letters. 

At  the  close  of  the  five  weeks  due  you  here,  I 
should  like  to  have  you  visit  the  class  again, 
when,  I  think  you,  yourself  being  the  judge,  will 
be  compelled  to  admit  that  this  class  will  in  six 
weeks  know  more  about  the  Greek  language  than 
you  have  learned  in  six  months."  "Oh,  that  is 
impossible.  Why,"  said  he,  "I  studied  Greek 
nearly  all  the  time."  "So  I  understand,  Mr. 
Smith."  "But  I  had  the  best  teacher  in  the 
United  States,  save  one  at  Harvard  College." 
In  fact,  he  was  the  first  in  his  class,  and  was  se- 
lected from  college  for  that  reason.  "  I  grant  all 
you  say,  Mr.  Smith,  and  I  will  grant  another  thing, 
and  that  is,  that  you  are  intellectually  as  capable 
as  any  member  of  my  new  class.  Still  I  have  no 
hesitancy  in  saying,  that  if  you  will  be  present  at 
two  or  three  of  my  last  recitations  before  you 
leave,  you  will  be  willing  to  say,  upon  what  you 
yourself  know  of  yourself  and  what  you  observe  in 
the  progress  of  the  class,  that  they  understand 
Greek  in  six  weeks'  training  better  than  you  do 
from  the  six  months'  study  you  gave  under  the 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,   OHIO.  311 

best  teacher  in  the  United  States.  Mr.  Smith 
was  present  at  the  organization  of  my  class,  and 
after  a  week,  at  my  request,  he  visited  it  again, 
to  observe  what  they  had  accomplished  in  one 
week.  After  another  week,  he  visited  us  again,  of 
his  own  accord,  and  perhaps  his  confidence  in 
his  own  superiority,  in  his  teacher,  and  in  his  line 
of  instruction  was  somewhat  shaken,  perhaps  not. 
During  the  last  two  weeks  of  his  continuance  in 
school,  he  became  a  regular  member  of  my  Greek 
class,  and  at  the  close  of  the  sixth  week  of  the 
term,  when  he  was  leaving  for  his  school-work,  he 
freely  declared  that  the  class  in  the  Normal,  under 
Normal  instruction,  was  more  advanced  in  the 
practical  knowledge  of  the  Greek  language  than 
he  would  have  been  under  his  college  training  in 
the  whole  forty  weeks  of  the  college  year.  Such 
exemplifications  of  college  and  boarding-school 
instruction  and  discipline  were  frequently,  more 
or  less  every  term,  thrown  upon  us,  in  the  Nor- 
mal. Scarcely  a  term  passes  now  that  we  do  not 
receive  individuals  from  some  college  or  State 
Normal  School  from  different  parts  of  the  Union. 
One  year  of  college  instruction,  for  the  most  part, 
enables  those  who  come  here  from  college  life  to 
enter  our  classes  which  have  been  under  instruc- 
tion one  term  of  ten  weeks,  and  a  like  proportion 
holds  good  for  longer  periods. 

This  kind  of  "let-alone"  management,  which 

redeemed  Miss  N ,  has  not,  I  admit,  worked 

successfully  in  all  cases.    Some  years  ago,  we  had 


312  REMINISCENCES. 

a  young  lady  of  about  nineteen  years,  brought  to 
us  by  her  mother  from  Cincinnati,  with  the  infor- 
mation that  the  daughter  had  been  expelled  from 
one  of  the  ladies'  colleges  at  Oxford,  and  that  she 
brought  her  to  us  in  the  hope  that  under  our  man- 
agement her  daughter  would  be  reformed,  and 
would  relieve  her  of  her  continued  and  increasing 
anxiety  for  her  welfare.  The  young  lady  was  as- 
signed to  a  room  in  the  Lyceum  with  another 
worthy  girl,  from  Indianapolis.  There  were  about 
twenty  young  ladies  rooming  in  the  Lyceum,  be- 
sides several  young  men.  I  was  occupying  the 
lower  story  of  the  building  as  my  family  residence. 
Of  course,  these  young  ladies  felt  themselves  more 
or  less  under  our  personal  supervision.  This  Cin- 
cinnati girl,  Miss  Winans,  I  shall  call  her,  very 
soon  developed  her  boarding-school  training  by 
forming  the  acquaintance  of  the  young  men  of 
town.  She  went  so  far  as  to  invite  one  of  these 
young  men  to  her  room ;  her  roommate,  however, 
being  present.  One  of  the  young  ladies  who  was 
disturbed  by  this  breach  of  decorum,  as  she  under- 
stood it,  brought  word  to  my  wife,  that  this  '  'town 
boy/*  as  the  girls  called  him,  was  permitted  to 
visit  one  of  the  girls  in  the  building  in  her  own 
room,  being  invited  evidently  by  the-  young  lady 
herself.  My  wife  took  occasion,  in  her  gentle, 
motherly  way,  not  to  reproach  Miss  Winans,  or 
to  scold  her,  or  anything  of  the  kind;  but  to  speak 
of  the  impropriety  of  her  course,  and  of  the  preju- 
dice she  would  bring  upon  herself,  even  among  the 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  313 

young  ladies  in  the  house,  by  pursuing  that  course 
of  conduct.  Miss  Winans  declared  that  it  was  a 
mere  accident,  she  had  not  intended  that  the  young 
man  should  go  to  her  room,  and  it  would  not 
happen  again.  Leaving  my  wife,  she  ran  up-stairs, 
and  went  around  to  all  the  rooms  and  to  nearly  all 
the  girls  "in  the  building,  and  boasted  of  the  ease 
with  which  she  had  got  around  the  "old  lady;" 
saying  that  the  "old  woman"  was  perfectly  soft 
and  green — she  had  not  had  so  much  to  do  with 
wild  girls  as  some  of  her  previous  teachers  had. 
Now,  there  were  two  courses  of  discipline  to  be 
pursued  with  this  young  lady.  We  were  well 
aware  that  she  had  little  sympathy.  In  fact,  only 
one  girl  in  the  house  approved  of  her  conduct, 
•even  to  her  face.  The  one  course  was  to  take 
stringent  measures,  and  put  Miss  Winans  under 
the  same  regime  that  had  resulted  in  her  expulsion 
from  the  Oxford  Seminary — in  other  words,  to 
make  an  example  of  her  in  public,  and  to  scold 
her  in  private,  the  very  common  method  of  deal- 
ing with  such  cases  in  most  schools  and  colleges. 
The  other  method  was  to  convince  the  other  young 
ladies  and  students  generally,  that  we  were  more 
anxious  to  save  the  young  lady  by  patience,  and 
submitting  to  her  caprices  and  misconduct,  than 
we  were  to  vindicate  our  own  characters  for  rigor- 
ous administration  of  discipline.  Under  the  one 
plan  it  was  plain  to  me,  that  we,  instead  of  help- 
ing the  girl,  would  have  made  her  case  still  worse, 
by  exciting  the  sympathy  of  the  whole  school  in 


314  REMINISCENCES. 

her  behalf  against  our  authority.  By  the  second 
plan,  we  succeeding  in  securing  the  sympathy  of 
every  pupil,  at  least,  in  favor  of  proper  conduct, 
and  in  full  approval  of  our  patience  and  kindness 
in  bearing  with  the  girl  in  spite  of  her  wayward- 
ness and  boast  that  she  was  coming  it  over  us  so 
easily.  It  is  not  to  be  assumed  here  by  any  means 
that  we  permitted  the  girl  to  pursue  her  own 
course,  and  in  her  wickedness  to  run  over  fellow- 
students  and  her  teachers,  and  thus  to  taunt  us  to 
our  face  for  our  inability  to  manage  her.  After 
using  all  proper  means,  and  finding  that  the  girl 
was  too  far  gone,  had  been  too  thoroughly  trained 
in  escapades  and  night-walkings  and  other  im- 
proprieties, and  her  case  becoming  utterly  intolera- 
ble to  the  other  young  ladies  in  the  building,  I 
wrote  to  her  mother  to  come  and  take  her  away. 
Whatever  became  of.  the  young  lady  after  that,  I 
am  unable  to  say.  I  only  heard  of  her  afterward 
as  a  waiter  girl  in  a  restaurant. 

During  the  twelfth  year,  1867,  the  number  of 
pupils  enrolled  was  75 1  ;  teachers,  1 1  ;  graduates 
in  Scientific  Class,  19  ;  in  Classic  Class,  7;  Business 
Course,  71.  Up  to  this  time,  I  had  purchased  six 
buildings  for  dormitories:  Lyceum,  Deuterian, 
Tertian,  Tetartian,  Pentonian  and  Hexonian.  The 
town  of  Lebanon  supplied  the  Academy  and 
Washington  Hall  for  the  use  of  the  school.  During 
these  first  eleven  years,  the  Normal  School  was 
managed  under  a  definite  code  of  laws  adopted  at 
the  beginning  of  every  session  by  a  vote  of  the 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  31$ 

students,  who,  in  voting  for  them,  pledged  them- 
selves to  sustain  them  by  their  compliance  and 
influence.  As  individuals  arrived,  they  pledged 
themselves  also  to  the  same  rules.  The  growing 
prosperity  of  the  school  under  these  rules  would 
seem  to  have  warranted  their  permanence,  but  as 
continued  relaxation  in  the  rigor  of  discipline  gave 
better  results  year  by  year,  I  decided  to  drop  all 
former  positive  law  and  depend  entirely  upon  the 
good-will  of  the  students ;  in  other  words,  upon 
the  prevailing,  popular  feeling.  The  results 
justified  the  plan.  Since  that  time,  the  popular 
sentiment  has  been  in  favor  of  order  and  diligence. 
This  popular  sentiment  is  sustained  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  general  exercises,  of  the  monthly 
reunions,  by  the  daily  prayer-meeting,  and  by  the 
interest  always  developed  by  the  teachers  em- 
ployed in  the  management  of  their  class  recitations 
and  drills,  and  by  the  free  and  genial  intercourse 
of  teachers  and  students  in  their  meetings  and 
greetings  outside  of  class  relations. 

The  chief  reason,  in  any  school  or  college, 
why  popular  feeling  is  found  to  be  in  favor  of  the 
violation,  or  at  least  in  sympathy  with  the  violator 
of  good  order,  is  in  the  servile  position  in  which 
students  are  placed  by  the  administration  of  law 
and  discipline,  and  by  the  useless  exactions  and 
penalties  imposed  to  secure  diligent  study.  Since 
I  have  tried  both  plans,  that  of  exacting  study  by 
pledges  and  penalties  on  the  one  hand,  and  by  de- 
pending exclusively  upon  the  interest  excited  by 


3l6  REMINISCENCES. 

the  teachers  in  their  classes  and  otherwise,  it 
seems  to  me  altogether  erroneous  to  impose  laws 
on  the  large  majority  who,  in  any  institution,  will 
prefer  to  be  right  and  do  right,  for  the  sake  of 
controlling  a  very  small  minority  who  may  prefer 
to  do  wrong.  Since  abandoning  the  idea  of  govern- 
ment altogether  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term, 
and  relying  upon  management  for  good  order  and 
diligence,  the  popular  sentiment  here  has  been 
increasingly  effective  and  controlling  in  its  re- 
sults. Private  remonstrance  with  students,  for 
want  of  diligence  or  for  other  derelictions,  is  very 
seldom  necessary.  From  the  first,  no  "memoriz- 
ing of  definitions,  rules,  or  other  matter  contained 
in  the  text-books,  has  been  required.  That  kind 
of  thoroughness  which  recognizes  only  the  mastery 
of  the  precise  words  of  the  text-book  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  recitations  and  examinations,  we  have 
ever  held  as  abominable,  as  incompatible  with  the 
genuine  love  of  study,  and  subversive  of  that  gen- 
eral class  interest  which  makes  hard  work  excit- 
ing, fascinating,  easy.  I  had  always  depended 
mainly  on  this  class  interest  in  study,  for  good 
order  and  decorum,  both  in  school  management 
and  class  management.  I  never  tolerated,  much 
less  demanded,  that  kind  of  thoroughness  which 
makes  a  verbal  knowledge  of  the  text-book  the 
test  or  standard,  so  prevalent  in  most  schools  and 
colleges,  nor  did  I  ever  depend  on  examinations, 
quarterly  or  annual,  for  giving  any  desirable  or 
healthy  stimulus  to  vigorous  effort.  So  much 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  3  I/ 

skinning  and  coaching,  and  so  many  other  dis- 
honest tricks  spring  up  necessarily  with  these 
college  examinations  in  special  text-books,  that  I 
consider  the  whole  system  vicious,  and  as  training 
the1  student  to  shifts,  expedients,  deception  and 
laziness,  rather  than  honest,  earnest  work  for  the 
love  of  it  as  a  life  habit.  I  had  always  held  it  as  a 
sine  qua  non  in  all  correct  teaching,  that  the  teacher 
must  be  thoroughly  in  love  with  his  business,  and 
absorbingly  interested  in  the  subject  taught,  for 
how  can  a  teacher  excite  a  love  in  others  for  that 
for  which  he  has  no  affection  himself?  My  assist- 
ant teachers,  all  of  whom  I  trained  in  the  natural 
method  of  beginning  every  subject  with  the  known, 
tangible  and  visible,  and  thus  leading  by  easy 
stages  to  the  unknown,  from  the  "concrete  and 
sensible  to  the  abstract  and  rational,  succeeded 
for  the  most  part  in  sustaining,  each  in  his  own 
work,  that  interest  generally  pervading  the  entire 
management  of  the  school.  This  method  never 
admits  of  following  any  text-book  implicitly,  and 
yet,  text-books  have,  for  the  most  part,  been  used 
as  a  necessary  means  of  guiding  the  first  efforts  in 
class-study  independent  of  the  teacher,  tending  to- 
ward that  stage  in  which  the  student  becomes 
independent  of  his  text-book  altogether.  This 
method  involves,  necessarily,  the  use  of  illustra- 
tions of  every  kind  compatible  with  the  subject  in 
hand,  and  is  the  true  object-teaching  method,  or 
in  other  words — the  true  "  Normal  Method  "  of 
teaching  every  branch.  This  has  been  the  method 


3l8  REMINISCENCES. 

of  this  institution  from  its  origin,  but  improve- 
ments have  been  continually  made,  as  no  method 
can  be  "Normal"  which  is  not  making  improve- 
ments upon  itself  continually.  The  first  improve- 
ment was  in  passing  from  one  text-book  to  *the 
use  of  two  or  more.  The  immediate  object  of  this 
was  to  break  up  the  inordinate  respect  for  the 
authority  of  the  text-book,  and  to  incite  more  ex- 
tended and  thorough  research  in  study.  The  sec- 
ond improvement  was  in  opening  a  general  library 
of  reference  books  to  the  free  use  of  all  students. 
The  third  improvement  was  in  the  use  of  outlines 
as  a  means  of  thorough  investigation.  Outlines 
were  for  many  years  prepared  by  the  teachers,  and 
copied  by  the  pupils  at  the  conclusion  of  the  dis- 
cussion of  any  branch,  e.g.,  Mechanics  in  Physics, 
or  Gases  in  Chemistry,  or  Equations  in  Algebra. 
More  recently,  outlines  are  iriade  by  the  pupils 
themselves,  and  in  the  emulation  excited  in  busi- 
ness appearance,  exhaustive  investigation,  and 
logical  arrangement,  in  original  or  selected  defini- 
tions, in  original  exemplifications  and  illustrations, 
these  exercises  prove  to  be  a  most  healthful  and 
permanent  incitement,  always  cumulative  in  their 
disciplinary  results  upon  the  minds  and  habits  of 
all  who  engage  in  their  preparation.  The  free  use 
of  a  full  library  is  a  necessary  condition  to  any 
success  in  producing  such  outlines.  It  may  be 
claimed,  possibly,  that  this  study  in  outlining,  can 
give  the  student  only  the  bare  bones  of  a  science, 
and  that  it  can  never  improve  the  expression  of  a 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  319 

pupil's  thought,  or  prepare  him  for  any  thorough 
discussion  of  the  subject,  or  for  any  desirable  posi- 
tion in  life.  The  facts,  however,  are  all  against 
these  assumptions.  By  proper  adjuvant  manage- 
ment, we  find  that  exhaustive  thoroughness  in 
discussion  is  its  immediate  and  always  inevitable 
result,  as  these  outlines  are  always  followed  by 
searching  and  thorough  class  discussion  of  all 
manner  of  points  involved.  It  is  found  to  pro- 
mote both  fullness  and  accuracy  of  expression  in 
technical  as  well  as  popular  language.  The  mutual 
class  criticisms  connected  with  the  elaborate  re- 
ports based  upon  their  respective  outlines,  as  given 
by  successive  pupils,  have  been  found  to  have  a 
positive  and  cumulative  effect  in  enlarging  the 
speaking  vocabulary  of  pupils  thus  engaged,  as 
well  as  increasing  .fluency  and  force  in  delivery. 

During  the  fifteenth  year — 1870-71 — the  num- 
ber of  pupils  enrolled  was  1,065;  teachers,  15; 
classic  graduates,  5  ;  scientific  graduates,  17;  busi- 
ness graduates,  47.  It  was  found  that  the  cata- 
logue of  this  year  contained  names  of  pupils  from 
thirteen  States  and  one  Territory,  and  since  the 
patronage  was  thus  shown  to  be  national  rather 
than  local,  it  was  proposed  by  some  of  the  patrons 
that  the  name  of  the  Institution  be  'changed  from 
the  Southwestern  Normal  School  to  the  National 
Normal  School.  This  was  accordingly  done  by  a 
unanimous  vote  of  the  pupils  and  teachers  the 
second  term  of  the  fifteenth  year.  During  the 
sixteenth  year,  the  number  of  pupils  enrolled  was 


32O  REMINISCENCES. 

1,423;  teachers,  14;  classic  graduates,  8;  scientific 
graduates,  26;  business  graduates,  72;  number  in 
Engineering  Department,  75.  I  purchased  also 
this  year  several  additional  buildings  for  dormi- 
tories. These  were  the  Heptoition,  Octonian, 
Ennetian,  Endetian  and  Decian.  The  citizens  of 
Lebanon,  more  and  more  every  year,  opened  their 
residences  for  the  accommodation  of  students,  and 
comfortable  rooms  were  urged  upon  students  at 
reasonable  rates.  Good  table  board  was  furnished 
at  $2  a  week  by  as  many  as  six  different  families. 
I  had,  during  several  years,  encouraged  the  forma- 
tion of  boarding  clubs.  These  were  generally 
managed  by  the  student  who  formed  the  club. 
Any  club  of  six  or  more  were  accustomed  to  hire 
a  woman  to  do  their  cooking,  who  generally  fur- 
nished their  table,  furniture,  etc.,  while  they  di- 
vided the  expense  among  themselves,  paying  the 
woman  a  certain  rate  per  week  each  for  her  labor 
and  the  use  of  her  furniture.  The  common  price 
paid  a  woman  for  such  services  was  40  cents  per 
week  each.  In  order,  however,  to  reduce  ex- 
penses and  make  club-boarding  more  economical 
and  desirable,  I  organized  a  club  in  the  large 
dining-room  of  the  Lyceum,  placing  it  in  the 
charge  of  Mrs.  Holbrook,  employing,  also,  a 
steward  to  manage  the  accounts  and  the  coming 
and  going-  of  all  those  boarding  in  the  club.  The 
club  price  was  about  $2  a  week  for  several  years 
immediately  following  the  war.  From  that  time 
to  this,  I  have  controlled  at  least  one  club,  keep- 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       321 

ing  the  price  of  board  at  a  minimum.    For  several 
years  it  has  been  furnished  to  gentlemen  for  $1.25 
a  week  and  to  ladies  for  $i.      This  club  virtually 
controls  the  price  of  board  in  all  the  other  clubs 
of  the  town,  and  is  only  sustained  for  that  pur- 
pose, preventing  that  curse  in  most  other  college 
towns — a  ring  or  combination  of  those  furnishing 
board  by  which  students  are  .charged  exorbitantly. 
I  am  satisfied  that  as  good  board  is  here  furnished^ 
as   wholesome   and   varied,    and   as   desirable    in 
every  respect,  for  from  $i  to  $1.50,  as  is  furnished 
in  other  school  or  college  towns  for  double  these 
prices.     A  similar  course  has  been  pursued  with 
regard  to  rooms  for  dormitories.      Buildings  have 
been  purchased,  rooms  have  been  furnished,  and 
great   care   has    been   employed   to   make   these 
rooms  comfortable,  cheerful  and  wholesome,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  furnish  them  at  the  least  pos- 
sible expense  to  the  students  who  may  desire  to> 
occupy  them. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  my  chief  care 
and  responsibility  and  burden  in  the  management 
of  the  Institution  has  been  and  is  in  the  manage- 
ment of  these  rooms,  in  order  to  keep  down  the 
price  of  room-rent  in  town.  It  has  been  my- 
policy  always  to  have  vacant  rooms,  so  that  any 
student  can  find  accommodations  at  the  adver- 
tised prices,  leaving  it  to  the  judgment  or  taste  of 
every  one  to  occupy  rooms  which  I  furnish,  or  to 
select  any  which  are  offered  in  town.  The  com- 
petition thus  sustained  in  the  price  of  board  in  the 
21 


322  REMINISCENCES. 

twenty-five  clubs,  and  also  in  the  room-rent,  has 
been  so  active  and  effective  that  students  have 
little  to  complain  of  in  their  expenses  here  as 
compared  to  their  expenses  elsewhere.  Although 
several  other  schools  advertise  less  expense,  we 
have  tested  this  matter  over  and  over  again  suffi- 
ciently to  justify  our  saying  that  no  other  school, 
however  managed,  costs  its  patrons  so  little  as  the 
National  Normal  University.  In  fact,  all  the 
competing  schools  are  compelled  to  put  their  tui- 
tion twenty  per  cent,  less  in  order  to  draw  stu- 
dents at  all;  and  notwithstanding  this  apparent 
difference  in  their  favor,  by  the  management  of 
every  necessary  expense  we  have  always  made 
this  school  less  expensive  to  its  patrons  than  any 
other.  We  claim,  also,  as  we  ever  have,  that  the 
advantages  and  facilities  for  securing  a  thorough 
practical  education  in  any  profession  or  in  any 
line  of  business  are  immensely  superior  here  to 
those  of  any  other  school  established  and  con- 
ducted by  college  men.  The  same  holds  true  of 
any  other  school  established  and  conducted  on  the 
principles  which  I  have  originated  and  brought 
into  practical  service  for  the  advantage  of  the 
young  at  large.  I  have  found  in  these  many 
years  of  experience,  that  it  is  necessary,  from  year 
to  year,  to  make  changes  in  the  teachers  of  our 
Faculty,  for  the  reason  that,  it  appears  without 
exception,  the  teachers  trained  here,  directly  or 
indirectly,  sooner  or  later  fall  back,  more  or  less, 
into  the  routine  of  the  old-fashioned  college  plans. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  323 

Thus  it  is  necessary  to  replace  those  who  are 
working,  even  here,  with  new  impulse,  as  I  con- 
ceive, from  the  fountain-head,  from  year  to  year, 
my  children  being  the  only  ones  who  retain  their 
vivacity,  energy,  originality  and  cumulative  en- 
thusiasm year  after  year  in  the  management  of 
our  classes.  For  this  reason,  chiefly,  I  change 
off  some  teachers  every  year. 

I  find  in  the  eighteenth  year — 1873 — the  num- 
ber of  pupils  1,613  ;  teachers,  17 ;  classic  graduates, 
7;  scientific  graduates,  37;  business  graduates,  92; 
number  in  Engineering  Department,  97.  The 
library,  arranged  in  ten  departments,  for  uses  of 
reference,  contained  two  thousand  volumes,  the 
latest  publications  in  every  department  being 
added  constantly;  the  library  being  always  ac- 
cessible to  students  and  a  competent  librarian 
always  in  attendance.  Much  of  the  best  study  of 
the  students  is  performed  there.* 

During  the  year  1872,  the  training  of  the  Scien- 
tific Class  in  natural  science  being  under  charge  of 
my  second  son,  R.  H.  Holbrook,  and  having  con- 
structed a  variety  of  articles  of  apparatus  them- 
selves, and  having  made  extensive  collections  of 
minerals  and  fossils,  Heber  initiated  and  carried 
through  our  first  school  exposition.  About  fifty 
cabinets  were  displayed,  each  containing  from 
fifty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  specimens  of  min- 
erals, fossils  and  other  natural  objects  of  interest, 
also  many  articles  of  apparatus  made  by  the 
students,  illustrating  principles  in  chemistry, 

*The  library  now  contains  5,000  volumes,  arranged  in  fifteen 
departments. 


324  REMINISCENCES. 

pneumatics,  mechanics,  hydraulics,  etc.  Many 
of  these  machines  exhibited  displayed  decided 
mechanical  ingenuity,  as  well  as  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  principles  involved.  The  expo- 
sition also  contained  many  extensive  and  beautiful 
herbariums,  the  sheets  of  which  were  displayed  on 
the  walls ;  also  many  large  and  fine  maps  made  by 
the  students  in  geography;  also  many  well-executed 
drawings  of  objects  made  by  the  pupils ;  also  a  num- 
ber of  mechanical  maps  made  by  the  Engineering- 
Class,  besides  a  large  number  of  exhaustive  out- 
lines on  rolls,  rods  in  length.  Each  pupil  having 
a  cabinet,  or  any  article  of  apparatus,  was  at  his 
post,  answering  any  questions  proposed  by  vis- 
itors, giving  explanations  or  performing  experi- 
ments, as  the  case  might  be.  Every  subsequent 
exposition  has  excelled  each  preceding,  and  the 
materials  in  each  have  been  entirely  different 
from  those  in  every  other.  Several  of  the  cabi- 
nets, though  collected  mostly  in  the  way  of 
recreation  and  open-air  exercise,  have  had  sums* 
offered  for  them  varying  from  $50  to  $500  each. 
Some  of  the  best  exhibitors  in  these  expositions 
have  been  ladies,  they  themselves  having  col- 
lected the  specimens  or  constructed  the  apparatus. 
About  this  time  there  appeared  a  gentleman,  in 
the  short  session,  who  had  entered  as  a  regular 
pupil,  and  who  had  evidently  had  the  best  oppor- 
tunities, and  had  improved  them;  was  polished, 
cultured,  had  much  experience  in  the  world,  who 
was  indeed  in  every  way  a  gentleman,  and  who 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,   OHIO.  325 

seemed  to  appreciate  every  movement  in  the 
classes,  especially  in  the  Training  Class.  At  as 
early  an  opportunity  as  possible,  I  made  it  my 
privilege  to  form  a  personal  acquaintance  with 
the  gentleman,  Mr.  Jones.  I  found  that  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Friends'  Society,  that  he  had  for 
many  years  been  a  preacher  in  that  denomination, 
and  that  he  had  been  a  successful  teacher  of  a 
Friends'  boarding-school  for  about  twenty  years. 
In  the  course  of  my  conversation,  I  ventured  to 
inquire  of  the  gentleman,  after  I  had  learned  his 
position  and  his  power,  "What  induced  you  to 
come  here  to  our  school?"  He  replied:  "Of 
course,  I  came  here  to  learn."  "But,  having 
been  a  teacher  nearly  as  long  as  I  have,  I  should 
naturally  suppose  that  your  success  with  the 
methods  that  you  have  adopted  would  have  given 
you  such  confidence  in  their  power  and  practica- 
bility, that  you  would  hardly  think  it  worth  while 
to  spend  six  weeks  in  another  school  for  the  pur- 
pose of  learning  other  methods."  "Well,"  said 
he,  "do  you  remember  three  young  ladies  who 
were  with  you  three  or  four  years  ago,  by  the 
name  of  Jones,  sisters  —  Mary,  Martha,  and 
Elanor?"  "Certainly,  I  remember  them  very 
well;  they  were  excellent  students,  and  very 
worthy  young  ladies ;  and,  not  only  so,  but  quite 
attractive  in  their  personal  appearance.  What  do, 
you  know  about  them,  sir?"  "Why,  those  girls 
were  nieces  of  mine.  They  were  left  orphans 
quite  young,  and  I  had  raised  them  and  educated 


326  REMINISCENCES. 

them  up  to  the  time  I  sent  them  to  your  school 
in  preparation  for  teaching  as  their  means  of  sup- 
port. When  they  returned  to  me  from  Lebanon, 
I  formed  an  idea  of  your  work  here,  not  only 
from  conversation  with  my  nieces,  but  from  your 
publications,  and  resolved  at  my  earliest  oppor- 
tunity to  spend  a  term  with  you,  in  obtaining  a 
practical  knowledge  from  my  own  observation  and 
experience  of  your  methods  of  exciting  an  interest 
in  pupils  in  their  studies."  "Well,  sir,"  said  I, 
"have  you  discovered  the  power — learned  the 
secret?"  "Yes,  sir,  somewhat,  but  I  am  learn- 
ing more  and  more  of  it  every  day;  and  I  think 
that,  by  the  time  the  term  closes,  I  shall  have 
possessed  myself  to  a  large  extent  of  the  same 
wonderful  enthusiasm  and  energy  and  self-confi- 
dence that  my  nieces  came  home  with."  "  But," 
said  I,  "was  the  self-confidence  of  your  nieces  in 
themselves  and  their  methods  misplaced?  Did 
they  not  vindicate  their  claims  to  the  possession 
of  such  qualities  and  gifts  as  would  make  them 
successful  in  their  endeavors  to  be  good  teachers?" 
"Most  certainly,  sir,"  he  replied.  "  I  secured 
schools  for  all  of  the  girls.  They  had  never 
taught  before,  and  their  success  has  been  such  as 
I  have  never  before  witnessed,  even  in  experi- 
enced teachers,  in  the  management  of  public 
schools.  And  while  I  had  some  difficulty  in 
obtaining  schools  for  the  girls,  from  the  fact  that 
they  had  no  previous  experience,  every  one  of 
the  three,  in  her  first  school,  made  an  unex- 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO. 

pected  and  beautiful  success.  And  when  ques- 
tioned on  their  means  and  ways,  they  constantly 
affirmed  that  their  success  was  attributable  to 
their  training  in  the  Training  Class  at  this  insti- 
tution. I  think,  from  the  success  of  these  girls, 
that  you  may  safely  recommend  those  whom 
you  have  trained,  and  who  have  seized  the  spirit 
of  your  methods,  as  being  better  teachers  than 
the  great  majority  of  those  who  have  been  teach- 
ing for  years  without  having  enjoyed  the  privileges 
of  your  Training  Class." 

I  thanked  the  gentleman  most  heartily  for  his 
good  opinion,  and  assured  him  that  I  hoped,  as  he 
became  more  and  more  familiar  with  the  processes 
in  the  different  classes  in  the  institution,  his  judg- 
ment would  be  confirmed  and  strengthened  rather 
than  diminished.  When  he  left,  he  voluntarily,  at 
the  close  of  the  term,  gave  me  for  publication  a 
very  strong  statement  of  his  views  and  his  appre- 
ciation of  the  work  being  done  at  this  Normal 
School.  This  statement  was  published  that  year 
in  the  catalogue. 

At  different  times  during  the  history  of  this  in- 
stitution, we  have  been  favored  with  visits  from 
various  gentlemen  of  good  standing  in  different 
Normal  Schools  and  Colleges.  One  President  of 
a  college  spent  a  week  with  us,  in  observing  the 
management  of  the  various  classes  conducted  by 
the  different  members  of  our  Faculty.  I  proffered 
every  opportunity  for  this  continued  observation  ; 
met  him  daily,  and,  looking  over  our  programme, 


328  REMINISCENCES. 

inquired  "  What  classes  would  you  like  to  visit  to- 
day?" He  selected  from  the  general  programme 
of  fifty  or  sixty  classes  six  or  more  of  those  he 
thought  would  be  most  useful  to  him  in  his  line 
of  observation.  His  custom  was  to  take  his  place 
among  the  pupils  of  the  several  classes,  and,  with 
his  note-book,  to  record  points  that  he  noticed  in 
the  management.  He  occasionally  proposed  ques- 
tions to  the  teacher  on  his  line  of  management, 
and  asked  the  object  of  such  and  such  proceedings, 
and  sometimes,  in  a  very  gentlemanly  manner, 
raised  a  point  in  criticism,  and  stated  his  objection 
to  the  course  pursued ;  but  teachers  were  instructed 
by  myself  to  meet  every  reasonable  requisition  and 
desire  of  the  worthy  President.  What  use  he 
ever  made  of  his  week's  visit,  and  his  continued 
and  close  application  to  the  study  of  our  methods, 
I  am  unable  to  say,  as  the  institution  over  which 
he  was  presiding  was  even  then  in  its  last  struggles 
for  an  existence.  In  my  conversations  with  the 
gentleman,  it  was  my  opinion,  although  he  raised 
no  special  objection  to  any  of  our  methods,  that 
it  would  be  impossible  for  him,  with  the  previous 
training  he  had  experienced,  to  apply  them  to  his 
own  college  government.  His  assumption,  like 
that  of  most  college  men,  was  that  boys  and  young 
men  are  necessarily  sensual,  and  prefer  idleness 
and  self-indulgence  to  hard  work  and  determined 
effort  and  self-denial.  Such  an  assumption,  or  such 
an  opinion,  on  his  part  would  necessarily  make  all 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,   OHIO.  329 

the  methods  practiced  here  useless  and  abortive,  if 
not  mischievous  and  destructive. 

.   Another  interesting  visitor  was  a  Mr.  B , 

from  Sweden,  Europe.  He  was  sent  here  by  the 
State  Commissioner  of  Ohio,  with  a  note  of  in- 
troduction. Mr.  B stopped  off  a  train,  think- 
ing he  would  stay,  perhaps,  two  or  three  hours, 
and  pass  to  Cincinnati  on  the  next  train.  He  re- 
mained here  for  a  week,  however,  and,  at  the  end 
of  that  time,  said  he  should  remain  longer,  had  he 
riot  an  engagement  in  the  dedication  of  a  Swedish 
College  in  Minnesota,  that  precluded  the  possi- 
bility of  his  continuance.  Our  Swedish  friend, 

Mr.  B ,  pursued  a  course  very  similar  to  that 

of  the  College  President,  looking  over  the  pro- 
gramme with  me,  and  selecting  those  classes 
which  he  thought  would  be  most  interesting  and 
profitable  to  him  in  the  way  of  observation.  Mr. 
B spoke  English  very  rapidly,  with  consider- 
able accent,  but  I  found  him  to  be  a  man  of  ex- 
cellent ability,  and  of  very  broad  and  high-toned 
culture.  After  having  graduated  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Stockholm,  he  had  spent  two  years  or 
more  in  a  German  University.  He  then,  as  he 
informed  me,  had  spent  a  year  at  Rome,  and  was 
now  on  a  tour  of  observation,  travel,  and  experi- 
ence, still  pursuing  this  general  course  of  educa- 
tion and  culture.  He  was  the  son  of  one  of  the 
Swedish  Bishops,  who  had  the  public  schools  of 
his  diocese  entirely  under  his  own  control.  The 
son  had  been  sent,  at  public  expense,  to  America, 


330  REMINISCENCES. 

to  gain,  as  far  as  possible,  the  power  to  improve 
the  Swedish  schools  under  his  father's  jurisdiction. 
He  had  already  spent  some  weeks  in  Boston,  New 
York,  and  Philadelphia,  and  had  intended  to  spend 
a  week  in  the  Cincinnati  schools,  but  this  week  was 
spent  with  us.  Of  course  the  questions  and  re- 
marks of  this  intelligent  gentleman  were  in  every 
case  very  apt,  critical,  and  always  polite,  and  not 
unfrequently  very  flattering,  especially  with  regard 
to  the  management  of  this  Institution  without  any 
laws.  His  repeated  remark  to  me,  after  his  day's 
work  in  the  classes,  was :  "  I  have  been  watching 
and  looki-ng  all  the  day  in  the  classes,  and  in  the 
recesses,  for  some  appearance  of  disorder,  or  of 
disregard  to  good  usage,  and  have  in  no  case,  in 
any  class,  or  in  any  building,  or  time  outside  of 
the  classes,  discovered  any  tendency  even  of  this 
kind.  But,  more  than  this,"  he  added,  at  one 
time,  "the  perfect  familiarity  and  equality  of  the 
teachers  and  pupils,  in  all  their  relations,  both  in 
their  classes  and  out  of  their  classes,  is  such  as 
seems  to  me  miraculous,  impossible"  (with  a  va- 
riety of  other  adjectives).  "The  students  are 
everywhere  seemingly  controlled  by  some  hidden 
influence  which  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  dis- 
cover. "  Our  Swedish  friend  had,  doubtless,  been 
reared  and  educated  under  a  weight  of  authority ; 
but  he  found  no  such  crushing  or  coercive  influence 
in  this  most  orderly  institution  that  he  had  ever 
known,  as  he  frequently  declared. 

In  answer  to  my  inquiry,   as  to  how  much  of 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  331 

my  management  he  could  introduce  into  the 
Swedish  schools,  his  reply  was:  "I  have  a 
great  number  of  points  recorded  in  my  note-book 
which  I  shall  most  unquestionably  use  when  I 
return  home,  and  take  my  place  as  deputy  to  my 
father  in  the  superintendency  of  schools  in  his 
diocese.  They  are  chiefly  on  the  management  of 
classes — as  I  find  that  management  practiced  here, 
always  varying  in  every  class,  by  every  teacher, 
but  ever  possessed  of  the  same  spirit."  "But," 
said  I,  ' '  what  is  the  spirit,  according  to  your  view  ?" 
"Well,  it  is  rather  difficult  for  me  to  denominate 
it,  but  it  does  seem  to  me  it  is  the  spirit  of  mutual 
confidence  and  mutual  respect,  as  far  as  I  can  get 
at  it,  between  pupils  and  teachers.  If  I  had  been 
told  before  I  came  here,  that  there  were  no  laws, 
I  should  not  have  come;  but  should  have  hardly 
thought  it  worth  my  time  to  visit  an  institution 
where  lawlessness  prevailed,  as  I  should  have  then 
considered  disorder  and  lawlessness  the  only  prob- 
ably permanent  characteristics.  But  I  am  more 
and  more  astonished  from  day  to  day,  and  from 
hour  to  hour,  at  the  prevalent  interest,  energy, 
devotion,  of  the  large  body  of  pupils  that  crowd 
your  recitation  rooms  or  hall,  or  the  streets  of  the 
town.  It  is  a  growing  wonder ;  the  more  I  see  of 
it,  the  more  my  astonishment  increases.  There  is, 
however,  one  feature  in  your  school  which  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  take  with  me  to  Sweden,  and  that 
is  the  entire  freedom  of  the  sexes  in  their  relation 
to  each  other.  I  shall  not  hesitate  in  attempting 


332  REMINISCENCES. 

any  other  points  in  management  that  I  have  here 
noticed ;  but  such  is  the  established  usage  of  our 
watchfulness  over  girls  before  their  marriage,  and 
its  supposed  necessity,  that  it  would  appear  shock- 
ing and  dangerous  to  bring  the  sexes  together  in 
Sweden  with  anything  like  the  freedom  from  re- 
straint which  characterizes  your  dealings  with  that 
most  difficult  and  delicate  of  all  human  relations." 

"But,  Mr.  B ,"  said  I,  "perhaps  that  is  the 

secret  power,  more  than  any  other,  that  has  es- 
caped your  attention — the  fact  that  this  freedom 
in  the  mutual  relations  of  the  sexes  is  of  itself  a 
more  potent  factor  in  the  management  of  this  In- 
stitution without  laws,  and  without  spies,  and  with- 
out bad  results,  than  any  other  one  influence  that 
can  be  found  here. "  ' '  Well,  is  that  so  ?"  said  he. 
"It  is  most  astonishing  of  all,  that,  in  Europe, 
we  fear  the  worst  results,  and,  indeed,  not  unfre- 
quently  find  them,  in  any  relaxation  of  watchful- 
ness over  young  ladies ;  yet,  here  with  you,  you 
proclaim  what  is  our  difficulty  to  be  the  cause  of 

your  marvelous  success."      "Well,   Mr.  B ," 

said  I,  "while  you  find  it  necessary,  in  Europe, 
to  watch  your  girls  (and  what  do  you  watch  forf), 
we  find  them,  in  this  Institution,  the  true  source  and 
chief  power  in  sustaining  propriety  and  courtesy. 
The  ladies  are  left  entirely  without  any  guardian- 
ship, other  than  that  which  exists  in  their  own 
hearts  and  consciences,  implanted  there  by  their 
home  training.  They  are  the  guardians  and  ser- 
vitors of  order  and  propriety."  "Do  you  never 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  333 

have  any  difficulty  between  the  sexes?  Never 
have  any  scandals,  any  escapades,  any  elope- 
ments?" "Why,  no,  sir;  there  is  no  occasion  for 
anything  of  the  kind,  for  I  have  a  standing  invi- 
tation for  any  that  wish  to  get  married  to  come  to 
my  house,  and  I  will  offer  them  every  facility  in 
accomplishing  so  worthy  a  purpose.  Several  dif- 
ferent persons  have  accepted,  at  different  times, 
my  invitation,  while  numbers  of  others  have  pre- 
ferred to  be  married  in  the  home  of  the  bride.'* 
"But  do  the  parents  never  object  to  these  ar- 
rangements of  their  daughters  so  far  from  their 
control  and  knowledge?"  .  "Oh,  I  have  never 
known  of  any  strenuous  objection  from  parents, 
though  probably  many  fears  and  doubts  are  expe- 
rienced in  regard  to  the  choice  of  their  daughters ; 
but  I  have  never  known  one  match  that  has  not 
met,  sooner  or  later,  the  fullest  approval  of  the 
parents,  or  that  has  not  proven  a  happy  choice." 
In  connection  with  this  conversation,  and  the 
interest  which  our  Swedish  visitor  took  in  this 
matter  of  the  freedom  of  the  sexes,  and  the  fact 
of  these  school  alliances,  it  occurred  to  me  that 
his  visit  to  America  was  not  exclusively  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  the  peculiar  advantages 
that  might  exist  in  American  schools,  and  so, 
Yankee-like,  I  proceeded  along  the  line  of  inter- 
rogation somewhat  in  this  way:  "Mr.  B ,  I 

understand  that  you  have  come  to  this  country  to 
visit  schools?"  "Yes,  sir."  "Well,  you  have 
told  me,  furthermore,  that  the  Swedish  Govern- 


334  REMINISCENCES. 

mentsent  you  here  for  the  purpose?"  "Yes,  sir, 
I  was  sent  here  by  the  Swedish  Government,  at  the 
solicitation  of  my  father."  "I  suppose,"  said  I, 
"this  is  the  only  object  you  have  in  view  in  visit- 
ing America — that  you  may  introduce  any  im- 
provements you  may  find  into  the  schools  under 
your  father's  supervision?"  "Yes — not  entirely 
so,  either.  I  had  other  objects  in  view."  "I 
suppose  the  general  advantage  of  travel  is  one. 
Since  you  have  become  familiar  with  all  European 
usages,  you  thought  it  -possible  there  might  be 
some  wild,  strange,  uncivilized  practices  in  America 
that  would  be  interesting  and  amusing?"  "Yes, 
sir;  but  I  have  found  my  sojourn  in  America 
exceedingly  profitable,  for  it  places  me  in  a  new 
relation  with  regard  to  the  practices  and  usages 
of  my  own  country.  I  see  many  things  that  I 
approve  more  fully  than  I  could  before  I  came. 
There  are  many  other  things  that  I  would  gladly 
have  radically  changed."  "But  you  have  no 
other  object  in  coming  to  America  than  the  ones 
you  said — visiting  schools,  and  the  general  advan- 
tages of  travel?"  "Well,  yes,  sir;  I  have  sev- 
eral objects."  "Well,"  said  I,  "there  is  no 
woman  in  the  case,  is  there?"  "Well,  what 
makes  you  think  so?"  "Well,  I  don't  know 
that  I  did  think  so ;  I  only  asked  the  question. 
Let  me  see,  did  you  meet  any  American  lady  in 
Germany,  or  Sweden,  or  somewhere?"  "Oh,  yes, 
I  met  a  great  many."  "Well,  yes;  but  didn't 
you  meet  some  very  beautiful,  maiden — different 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  335 

from  the  rest?  I  think  you  a  very  expert  lin- 
guist, and  that  you  speak  the  English  language 
very  well  for  a  person  who  has  been  speaking  it 
but  "six  months."  "I  had  a  most  excellent 
teacher,"  said  he;  "a  young  lady."  "Well, 
will  you  tell  me  who  that  young  lady  was?" 
"Well,  yes;  I  don't  know  that  I  have  any  ob- 
jection." "And  where  did  you  find  her?" 
"Well,  we  spent  a  year  in  Rome  together." 
"And  you  taught  her  Swedish,  and  she  taught 
you  English ;  and  you  both  learned  Italian  to- 
gether?" "Yes,  sir."  "Well,  which  talked 
the  best?"  "She  had  been  in  Italy  a  year  be- 
fore me,  and  she  talked  the  best."  "And  so 
you  have  come  to  America  to  renew  your  ac- 
quaintance?" "Yes."  "And  you  are  not  going 
to  take  her  back  home  to  Sweden,  are  you?" 
"I  expect  to."  "There,  I  understand  it  all; 
it's  all  right  and  clear  now."  "But,"  said  he, 
"what  led  you  to  think  there  is  a  woman  in  the 
case?"  "  Oh,  I  don't  know;  there  is  a  woman  in 
almost  every  case  that  is  desirable  in  this  world." 
"Well,  "said  he,  "that  is  so." 

A  year  afterward,  I  received  a  paper  from  Stock- 
holm, most  beautiful  in  its  mechanical  appearance, 
together  with  a  letter  from  a  Swedish  lady,  who 
had  read  an  article  in  it,  stating  that  she  had  be- 
come very  much  interested  in  our  work  from  this 

article,  written  by  Mr.    B ,  and  that  she  had 

been  very  anxious  to  visit  us*  after  having  read 

*Miss  Cecile  Gohl.     She  is  now  with  us,  as  a  student. 


336  REMINISCENCES. 

the  article.  She  also  stated  that  she  sent  the 
paper  to  me,  thinking  that  I  would  be  interested 

in  the  statement  which  Mr.  B gave  of  his  visit 

to  Lebanon,  and  the  National  Normal  University. 
It  was  written  in  English,  although  the  lady  was 
evidently  a  Swede.  I  called  upon  our  teacher  of 
German,  a  Danish  lady,  who  translated  the  article 
in  the  paper  for  me.  She  demurred  at  first,  say- 
ing that  Swedish  was  quite  different  from  Danish, 
and  she  had  never  studied  Swedish.  If  it  were 
the  Norwegian  language,  she  would  understand  it 
perfectly,  as  the  Swedish  and  Norwegian  books 
were  used  in  both  countries.  But  she  made  the 

attempt,  and  succeeded  in  translating  Mr.  B 's 

article  after  some  hesitation,  for  which  she  apolo- 
gized by  stating,  that  she  had  first  to  translate  the 
Swedish  into  Danish,  and  then  the  Danish  into 
English.  We  found  it  a  very  interesting  and  cir- 
cumstantial detail  of  our  plans,  and  of  our  peculiar 
management  of  our  classes.  The  article,  thus  trans- 
lated, was  afterward  published  in  our  monthly. 

HOW  SICKNESS  HAS  BEEN  MANAGED. 

During  the  first  several  years  of  school  it  was 
customary  for  us — Melissa  and  me — to  take  any 
that  were  ill  to  our  own  home,  and  provide  for  them 
without  making  any  charge.  When,  after  several 
years,  a  young  man,  belonging  to  a  wealthy 
family,  had,  from  his  own  self- abuse  and  contin- 
ued disregard  of  his  health  and  my  expostulations, 
brought  upon  himself  a  typhoid  fever,  and  we  had 
taken  him  to  our  home,  as  was  our  custom,  and 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO. 

had  taken  care  of  him  for  about  six  weeks,  board- 
ing his  father  and  sister  also,  and  they,  referring 
to  my  advertisement,  declined  contributing  any- 
thing toward  the  long  and  expensive  siege  that  we 
had  undergone  with  him,  and  the  expenses  we 
had  incurred  for  watchers,  besides  that  of  boarding 
his  friends,  I  concluded  that  this  plan  would 
hardly  be  feasible  any  longer,  and  withdrew  the  ad- 
vertisement, and  made  other  arrangements  than  to 
take  the  sick  into  my  own  house  and  care  for  them, 
especially  as  the  weight  of  responsibility  and  care 
and  labor  and  anxiety  and  watchfulness  came 
upon  my  wife,  who  was  sufficiently  laden,  surely, 
with  other  cares.  Now,  it  so  happened  that,  after 
this  arrangement,  we  had  little  sickness  for  a  year 
or  two ;  but,  then,  a  married  woman,  whose  hus- 
band was  attending  school,  was  down  with 
continued  illness  for  many  weeks.  She  had 
exhausted  the  patience  and  health  of  the  young 
lady  pupils  in  the  school,  who  had  taken  care  of 
her.  No  other  provision  had  been  made  in  her 
several  relapses.  My  wife  interfered  in  her  man- 
agement several  times,  and,  following  her  instruc- 
tions, the  patient  had  several  times  partially 
recovered,  but  she  had  fallen  back  by  the  same 
disregard  of  hygiene  and  the  same  imprudence 
that  first  made  her  sick.  Thus  she  had  several 
times  called  in  medical  advice,  and  at  last  had 
died  in  spite  of,  or,  perhaps,  in  consequence  of, 
medical  advice  and  prescription.  The  husband 
secured  the  attendance  of  six  young  men — Normal 
22 


338  REMINISCENCES. 

students — to  take  the  remains  of  his  wife  to  her 
home  burying-ground,  in  a  neighboring  county. 
In  consequence  three  of  the  young  men  were 
taken  down  with  the  typhoid  fever.  Wife  took 
much  of  the  responsibility  of  nursing  them.  I 
secured  watchers — chiefly  from  among  the  stu- 
dents. As  a  result  of  this  long  siege  my  wife 
herself  came  down  with  the  same  fever  and  barely 
escaped  with  her  life,  from  the  unusual  fatigues 
and  anxiety  connected  with  her  services  to  these 
young  men.  I  then  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  would  be  necessary  to  say  in  public  that,  while 
we  as  a  family  would  do  whatever  we  could  for 
the  sick,  it  would  be  necessary  for  those  who  were 
suffering  to  employ  watchers  and  obtain  medical 
advice.  In  the  few  cases  of  sickness  which  fol- 
lowed this  announcement  we  remitted  no  care  or 
trouble  in  behalf  of  the  sick ;  but  the  matter  was 
taken  up  -by  the  daily  prayer-meeting,  and  since 
that  time  a  committee  has  been  appointed  each 
successive  term  to  announce  to  the  prayer-meeting 
any  cases  of  sickness  or  any  need  of  watchers, 
and,  save  -in  a  very  few  cases,  students  have  been 
kindly  and  generously  cared  for  by  their  fellow- 
students.  Previous  to  this  present  year,  the  thir- 
tieth (1885),  there  have  been  but  ei'ght  deaths  in 
the  Institution  among  the  35,000  who  have  at- 
tended. As  often  as  every  other  year  the  measles 
have  been  brought  into  the  school,  and  when 
once  introduced,  they  have  never  been  checked 
until  nearly  every  person  in  school  who  has  not 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,   OHIO.  339 

before  had  the  measles  has  been  attacked.  Only 
two  deaths  from  that  cause  have  occurred  previous 
to  this  year  (1885).  Five  times  during  the  history 
of  the  school  the  smallpox  has  appeared  in  town, 
or  in  the  school,  and  in  no  one  of  these  cases  has 
it  proved  fatal  or  extended  beyond  the  person 
who  brought  it  here.  I  have  remarked  elsewhere 
that  the  excessive  labor,  anxiety  and  loss  of 
sleep  to  which  my  wife  was  subjected  in  the  care  of 
the  sick  undoubtedly  shortened  her  life  many 
years.  No  expostulations  on  the  part  of  her  hus- 
band or  children  could  deter  her  from  taking  a 
-deep  and  personal  interest  in  every  sufferer  in  the 
school. 

It  is  still  customary  for  students  to  volunteer 
their  services  in  case  of  sickness.  Arrangements 
are  still  made  in  the  prayer-meeting,  through  com- 
mittees, to  report  cases  of  sickness  and  to  provide 
watchers  as  far  as  may  be  possible.  However,  in 
all  cases  of  protracted  sickness,  parents  or  other 
friends  are  sent  for,  and  the  case  is  then  transferred 
to  them. 

The  exceptional  health  of  the  school  through 
these  thirty  years,  the  few  deaths  that  have  oc- 
curred, bear  testimony  to  the  entire  healthfulness 
of  the  locality  and  to  the  effectiveness  of  the 
hygienic  arrangements  in  the  Institution. 

MANAGEMENT  OF  WAYWARD  BOYS. 

As  the  reputation  of  the  Institution  extends, 
and  as  it  is  more  and  more  insisted  that  there  is 


34O  REMINISCENCES. 

less  of  dissipation  and  waste  of  time  and  of  money 
here  than  in  any  other  school,  boys  who  were 
doubtless  unmanageable  at  home  have  been  sent 
here  for  the  benefit  of  the  moral  influence  sup- 
posed to  be  exerted  here  by  both  teachers  and 
pupils.  We  have  never  claimed  to  be  a  "  reform 
school,"  nor  do  I  ever  encourage  parents  or  guard- 
ians to  send  any  boys  or  girls  here  for  instruction 
or  moral  improvement  who  are  unmanageable  at 
home.  I  have  no  fears  of  their  influence  in  any 
direction  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  school,  but 
the  care  and  responsibility  of  one  wayward, 
thoughtless,  not  to  say  reckless,  boy,  as  any  caa 
see,  is  more  wearing  and  exhausting  than  the  en- 
tire management  of  the  Institution  in  all  the  inter- 
ests and  diversity  of  employes  and  employment. 
I  have,  however,  refused,  no  one  who  has  applied 
for  admission ;  at  the  same  time  I  am  careful  to 
state  to  every  parent  or  guardian  that  I  can  not 
personally  give  care  and  attention  or  watchfulness 
to  any  such  boy.  If,  however,  the  parent  or 
guardian  deems  best  to  send  or  leave  a  child  or 
ward  under  the  general  influences  of  the  institu- 
tion, not  expecting  me  to  watch  personally  over 
the  diligence  and  good  behavior  of  the  pupil,  I 
can  accept  the  pupil  with  the  understanding  that 
the  parent  or  guardian  shall  be  informed  whenever 
such  pupil  demonstrates  that  he  can  not  be  trusted 
with  his. own  interests,  and  needs  closer  personal" 
attention  than  I  or  any  other  teacher  can  bestow 
in  his  behalf.  I  have  in  some  cases,  however, 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  341 

been  exceedingly  tried,  and  have  had  my  hopes 
and  expectations  in  regard  to  some  special  boys, 
in  whom  I  had  a  deep  interest,  on  their  own 
account  as  well  as  on  account  of  their  parents, 
continuously  baffled ;  and  after  becoming  discour- 
aged time  and  again,  I  have  still,  at  the  request  of 
the  parents,  held  on  and  permitted  the  boy  to 
have  another  trial,  and  still  another.  In  some 
such  cases  the  influences  of  the  school  have  at  last 
overcome  the  bad  habits  of  the  boy.  In  some 
other- cases  we  have  not  been  successful,  and  the 
boy  has  been  withdrawn  from  school  by  his  parent 
or  guardian  without  any  public  expulsion  or  dis- 
grace. I  could  now  enumerate  several  worthy 
business  men  of  the  former  class,  who,  after 
several  trials,  have  at  last  come  to  themselves, 
gone  to  work  of  their  own  accord  and  become 
interested  in  their  own  well-being  and  have  been 
reformed — that  is,  made  over  again  by  the  healthy 
moral  and  social  influences  brought  to  bear  upon 
them  by  the  power  of  their  teachers  and  fellow- 
pupils. 

EXPERIMENTS  IN  PHYSICAL  TRAINING. 

We  have  had  a  continuous  session  for  the  most 
part,  from  the  first  year  of  the  Institution,  of 
forty:eight  or  fifty  weeks  in  the  year,  and  our 
school  exercises  continue  from  7  A.  M.  to  8  or 
9  P.  M.,  with  an  intermission  of  an  hour  at  noon, 
and  half  an  hour  in  the  evening.  It  would  seem 
necessary  that  students  who  thus  voluntarily  and 
earnestly  apply  themselves  so  many  weeks  in  the 


342  REMINISCENCES. 

year,  and  so  many  hours  in  the  day,  should,  in 
order  to  retain  their  health  and  vigor,  take  at  least 
one  hour  a  day  in  physical  exercises  and  recrea- 
tion. I  have  initiated  various  forms  of  exercise 
at  different  times,  at  very  considerable  expense. 
During  the  second  year  of  the  Institution,  I  ob- 
tained and  placed  upon  the  Academy  grounds,  a 
thorough  outfit  of  heavy  gymnastic  apparatus, 
and  made  such  arrangements  that  every  pupil  in 
attendance  could  profit  by  the  use  of  this  appara- 
tus. A  sufficient  amount  of  exhortation  and  of 
expostulation  was  given,  to  induce,  if  possible, 
every  student  to  remit  his  mental  application  at 
least  one  hour  in  the  day  for  this  kind  of  physical 
training.  After  a  few  weeks,  however,  it  became 
evident  that  the  apparatus  was  not  visited  regu- 
larly by  any  pupil  in  attendance,  and  that  no  one 
at  any  time  spent  an  hour,  or  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  continuously  in  its  use.  It  was  eventually  suf- 
fered through  neglect,  to  go  to  wreck,  the  students 
all  being  too  much  interested  in  their  studies  to 
yield  an  hour,  or,  indeed,  any  time  regularly,  to 
the  recuperation  which  such  exercise  might  be 
supposed  to  afford.  Some  two  or  three  years  sub- 
sequently, a  light  gymnastic  apparatus  was  brought 
here  by  Chas.  S.  Royce,  and  under  his  training 
and  inspiration  a  large  proportion  of  the  school, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  were  induced  to  give  an 
hour  a  day  to  the  use  of  this  apparatus,  and  re- 
ceived, no  doubt,  many  of  them,  much  advantage 
from  this  kind  of  training.  When,  however,  the 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       343 

incitement  of  the  trainer  was  removed,  and  the 
pupils  were  expected  or  requested  to  purchase 
the  apparatus,  each  for  himself,  and  were  thrown 
into  groups  for  practice,  it  was  found  that  com- 
paratively few  felt  it  necessary  to  avail  themselves 
of  this  kind  of  relief  from  excessive  application  to 
their  studies.  The  apparatus,  then,  for  light 
gymnastics  was  laid  aside,  forgotten,  no  one  feel- 
ing that  he  had  time  to  make  any  regular  or  satis- 
factory use  of  the  apparatus,  even  after  he  had 
been  trained. 

My  next  endeavor  for  physical  training,  a  year 
or  two  intervening,  was  to  introduce  base-ball,  and 
to  divide  the  school  into  nines  according  to  their 
times  of  recitation.  The  ladies,  in  sunbonnets  and 
gloves,  were  permitted,  if  they  chose,  to  form 
themselves  into  separate  nines,  or  to  join  the 
nines  of  the  young  men,  when  they  could  con- 
veniently do  so.  As  a  novelty,  this  plan  seemed 
to  be  accepted,  and  promised  to  offer  more  con- 
tinuous advantages  than  had  been  experienced 
from  various  previous  attempts,  but  it  soon  became 
apparent  that  the  interest  was  waning,  and  com- 
plaints were  brought  in  that  the  nines  were  not 
full,  and  that  the  game,  here  and  there,  was  pre- 
vented by  the  absence  of  one,  two,  or  three  from 
the  nine  at  its  appointed  time.  I  then  suggestejd 
in  any  such  case  that  two  or  three  nines  should 
consolidate.  This  worked  for  awhile,  but  the 
nines  soon  became  so  few  and  so  uncertain,  and 
so  few  could  be  found  upon  the  playground  at 


344  REMINISCENCES. 

any  one  hour,  that  a  game  was  impossible,  and 
this  plan  fell  into  desuetude,  except,  perhaps, 
with  a  few  boys  combining  with  town  boys,  who 
spent  most  of  their  time  in  base-ball  rather  than 
in  their  studies.  So,  for  these  reasons  base-ball 
was  laid  aside. 

The  next  experiment  was  in  the  way  of  croquet, 
and  arrangements  were  made  by  which  every 
student  could  have  his  croquet-ground,  his  croquet 
set,  and  his  partners  in  the  game  at  a  definite 
time  in  the  day  accommodated  to  his  recitations 
and  studies.  The  experiment  with  croquet  con- 
tinued longer  than  any  preceding  one,  especially 
as  more  ladies  engaged  in  the  several  sets.  But, 
before  the  season  had  gone  by,  very  few  were 
found  availing  themselves  of  the  opportunity  for 
exercise  in  croquet.  Here  and  there,  now  and 
then,  more  and  more  frequently,  this  individual 
or  that  found  it  necessary  to  take  extra  time  to 
get  up  a  lesson,  to  write  an  essay,*  to  prepare  for 
a  debate,  or  to  make  out  an  outline,  or  to  get 
some  other  exercise  ready  to  meet  the  demands 
of  his  own  judgment  in  his  regular  school-work. 
Croquet  gradually  disappeared. 

About  six  years  ago,  Mr.  C.  S.  Royce  removed 
his  "Health  Lift"  apparatus  to  Lebanon,  and  being 
furnished  with  rooms  at  my  expense,  offered  his 
services  to  any  who  needed  them,  and  was  at  first 
patronized  by  quite  a  number  of  students  as  well 
as  citizens.  After  remaining  two  years,  however, 
the  attendance  of  students  at  his  rooms,  although 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,    OHIO.  345 

all  who  attended  acknowledged  the  positive  bene- 
fit they  had  derived  from  the  "  Health  Lift,"  be- 
came so  meager,  that  Mr.  Royce  was  willing  to 
accept  an  offer  from  a  Water  Cure  to  remove  his 
apparatus  there.  This  was  my  last  experiment  in 
endeavoring  to  give  relief  to  the  continued  and 
excited  application  to  hard  study,  which  our 
Normal  Course  requires  for  its  highest  success.  A 
'comparison  of  our  curriculum  with  the  curricula 
of  almost  all  other  colleges,  will  show  that  a 
student  accomplishes  as  much  in  one  year,  pro- 
vided he  meets  the  demands  of  our  curriculum,  as 
is  accomplished  in  three  years  in  most  colleges. 
Now,  this  is  not  an  assumption.  It  is  not  brought 
about  by  any  "  hot-bed  process,"  or  by  any  secret 
or  patent-right  operation;  it  is  accomplished  by 
the  determined,  earnest,  voluntary  work  of  every 
pupil  here  who  keeps  up  with  his  classes  and  who 
receives  a  diploma  from  this  Institution.  Such 
work  as  is  here  ordinarily  done,  can  never  be  done 
by  any  one  who  works  from  any  other  motive  than 
his  own  choice,  under  the  stimulus  of  his  excited 
ambition,. and  under  the  energy  of  his  own  aroused 
faculties.  The  question  then  would  rise  from  those 
who  are  not  familiar  with  our  operations,  "How 
is  it  possible  that  while  so  many  in  colleges  break 
down  in  their  health  without  one-half  the  intel- 
lectual work  that  is  accomplished  here, — in  the 
same  length  of  time,  the  general  health  of  those 
in  attendance  at  the  Normal  is  so  unvarying,  and 
in  almost  every  individual  case  improved  from 


346  REMINISCENCES. 

the  time  he  or  she  enters  to  the  time  he  or  she 
leaves?"  My  answer  is:  That  college  students 
rarely  break  down  from  hard  study.  The  hard 
students  are  those  who  generally  retain  their 
health.  Here,  the  change  in  the  character  of  the 
mental  application  is  so  arranged  as  to  make  every 
study  and  exercise  a  rest  and  recreation  for  every 
other  study  and  exercise.  Again,  our  dormitories 
and  recitation-buildings,  about  twenty  in  number, 
are  so  situated  in  the  town  of  Lebanon,  that  a 
great  deal  of  out-of-door  walking  is  necessitated 
by  the  distance  of  the  several  buildings  from  each 
other.  From  the  general  habits  and  discipline  of 
the  school,  and  from  the  individual  energy  of  the 
students,  and  the  necessity  of  the  utmost  economy 
of  time  in  passing  from  one  class  to  another,  these 
walks  in  open  air  are  always  necessarily  of  the 
most  lively  and  exciting  character.  The  step  is 
very  rapid,  and  the  company  is  frequently  that 
of  the  other  sex  in  the  walk,  and  the  circumstances 
and  environments  attending  these  walks  are  gen- 
erally such  that  a  new  Normal  vigor  seems  to  be 
roused  in  both  gentlemen  and  ladies  in  this  kind 
of  jolly  performance.  Again,  during  the  spring, 
summer  and  autumn  months,  sections  are  formed 
for  collecting  fossils,  minerals,  specimens  from  the 
strata  and  bowlders,  over  a  wide  area  in  this 
neighborhood.  Sections  in  botany  are  also  formed 
by  other  pupils,  who  make  their  excursions  to- 
gether in  groups,  generally  of  both  sexes,  and 
thus  new  interest  in  study,  new  incitement  in 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO. 

social  converse,  and  new  powers  of  observation 
are  aroused,  all  of  which  tend  to  the  promotion  of 
physical  and  mental  vigor  and  social  vivacity.  Not 
only  so,  scarcely  an  exercise  takes  place  in  the  In- 
stitution in  which  both  sexes  are.  not  present,  and 
participate  in  the  work  of  the  hour.  Whatever 
most  physicists,  physiologists  or  fossil  doctors 
may  think  concerning  the  mutual  influence  of  the 
sexes,  it  is  my  judgment  from  years  and  years  of 
observation,  carefully  compared  and  generalized, 
that  such  associations  should  be  carefully  utilized 
in  the  education  of  either  sex,  whether  we  look  at 
their  physical  powers,  their  intellectual  energies 
or  their  moral  growth,  and  that  those  who  neglect 
them,  reject  the  most  potent  factor  in  the  Normal 
development  of  either  sex. 

Not  only  do  the  sexes,  meet  here  in  the  regular 
work  of  class-recitation  and  class-drill,  and  all  these 
walks  and  excursions,  exerting  their  mutual  in- 
fluence upon  each  other,  but  they  are  accustomed 
to  meet  in  regular  debating  sections,  both  sexes 
forming  by  preference,  each  of  the  fifty  or  more 
debating  sections  or  literary  societies  always  going 
on  within  the  Institution.  Not  only  so,  but  fre- 
quent reunions  are  provided  for,  of  which  the 
special  object  is  to  give  the  sexes,  if  possible,  still 
better  opportunities  to  become  acquainted  with 
each  other,  and  to  exercise,  each  upon  the  other, 
that  subtle,  social,  healthful,  moral  influence  which 
God  has  designed  for  the  purity  of  the  family,  for 


348  REMINISCENCES. 

the  upbuilding  of  his  church,  and  for  the  progress 
of  society. 

Some  years  ago,  a  gentleman  of  wealth  and 
standing,  who  resided  on  the  Ohio  River,  brought 
his  three  sons  from  a  College  Preparatory  School. 
Their  ages  were  from  fourteen  to  eighteen.  He 
said  he  had  been  advised  to  bring  the  boys  to 
Lebanon  for  a  business  education,  and  that,  as 
they  had  no  taste  for  literary  pursuits,  and  as 
his  own  business  would  give  them  employment  in 
its  different  departments,  and,  as  he  hoped,  they 
would  share  his  business  with  him,  he  would  leave 
them  in  my  care,  willing,  to  entrust  them  to  my 
judgment  for  their  business  training.  I  inquired  : 
"  Mr.  S ,  what  is  your  idea  of  a  suitable  busi- 
ness training  for  your  sons ?"  Mr.  S :  "You 

may  take  your  own  course  ;  I  should  like  to  have 
the  boys  remain  with  you  and  complete  their  edu- 
cation in  your  school,  and  when  you  have  carried 
them  as  far  as  you  think  desirable,  I  will  then 
initiate  them  each  in  his  own  place  in  my  own 
business."  "  But,"  said  I,  "Mr.  S ,  you  cer- 
tainly have  some  preference  as  to  the  course  that 
each  boy  may  pursue  in  preparation  for  the  de- 
partment of  your  business  that  you  wish  him  to 
enter."  "  No,  sir,  I  don't  know  that  I  have  any 
preference.  I  want  my  boys  to  be  intelligent, 
competent  business  men,  able  to  perform  any 
business  or  any  literary  work  connected  with  any 
ordinary  business  transaction."  "Would  you  like 
them  to  continue  their  study  of  Latin  ?"  "I  will 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       349 

leave  that,  sir,  entirely  to  you.  If,  in  your  opinion, 
Latin  will  prepare  them  better  for  buying  and  sell- 
ing1 goods,  and  for  managing  men  under  their  con- 
trol, or  improve  their  judgment  in  deciding  the 
value  of  landed  property,  or  stocks,  or  merchan- 
dise, then  you  will  please  let  them  continue  in 
Latin  just  as  long  as  you  may  desire. "  "You 
would  like  to  have  them  prosecute  their  mathe- 
matics probably  through  the  entire  course?" 
"Yes,  sir;  if,  according  to  your  judgment,  the 
training  that  you  give  in  mathematics  will  make 
them  more  ready  in  calculation,  and  more  acute 
in  business  transactions,  you  will  please  give  them 
just  so  much  and  just  so  thorough  a  training  in 
mathematics,  as  in  your  judgment  will  be  useful." 
"Would  you  like  them  to  study  book-keeping?" 
"  No,  sir,  if  you  please ;  it  is  the  only  study  that 
I  think  would  be  of  no  special  use  to  my  boys  in 
preparation  for  the  different  forms  of  business  that 

I  expect   them  to  enter."     "Why,   Mr.   S , 

your  views  of  a  business  education  are  somewhat 
peculiar.  I  had  supposed  that  of  course  you 
would  want  them  familiar  with  the  management 
of  accounts,  and  able  to  master  and  control  any 
set  of  books  whatever."  "  No,  sir,  if  you  plfcase, 
don't  let  my  boys  study  book-keeping ;  anything 
else  according  to  your  judgment.  I  have  had  so 
much  trouble  in  my  business  in  attempting  to 
train  young  men  to  take  charge  of  different  sets  of 
books  involved  in  different  departments  of  my 
business,  who  have  come  with  their  diplomas  from 


35°  REMINISCENCES. 

commercial  colleges,  that  I  have,  perhaps,  a  preju- 
dice against  book-keeping  in  any  of  its  forms.  I 
have  never  succeeded  in  training  commercial  col- 
lege graduates  into  the  safe  and  intelligent  charge 
of  any  set  of  books  in  any  line  of  my  business." 
With  these  remarks  of  my  worthy  patron,  Mr. 
S ,  I  assumed  the  responsibility  of  the  busi- 
ness training  of  the  three  boys.  The  eldest,  whom 
I  shall"  call  George,  was,  by  nature  sedate,  indus- 
trious, and  persistent  in  any  work  or  study  in 
which  he  felt  it  was  right  for  him  to  engage.  His 
success  in  all  the  different  lines  of  study,  com- 
prising a  thorough  course  of  mathematics,  a 
familiarity  with  the  classics,  with  a  mastery  of 
English  literature,  with  the  power  of  analysis  and 
expression  in  English  composition,  was  from  the 
first  satisfactory  to  his  teachers,  and  attractive  to 
himself.  Without  the  consent  of  his  father,  how- 
ever, but  according  to  his  own  preference,  he  took 
up,  in  due  time,  the  study  of  book-keeping,  and 
mastered  it  in  all  its  varieties,  principles  and 
applications  so  entirely,  that  when,  after  three 
years,  he  left  us,  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
books  of  his  father's  bank,  and  continues  to  the 
present  time  in  charge  of  an  immense  business,  in 
which  a  bank,  iron-works,  coal  mining,  and  a  rail- 
road are  involved.  I  have  never  heard  any 
complaint  from  his  father  that  his  training  in  book- 
keeping was  any  disadvantage  to  his  education. 
The  second  son  was  more  volatile  in  his  disposi- 
tion, and  less  inclined  to  persistent  effort  in  any 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       351 

direction ;  a  young  man  of  fine  personal  appear- 
ance, of  amiable  disposition,  and  rather  unusual 
intellectual  shrewdness,  but  seemingly  unable  to 
bring  his  energies  to  bear  in  any  given  direction 
for  any  great  length  of  time.  In  his  desire  to  cor- 
rect his  own  failings,  it  was  customary  for  him, 
term  after  term,  to  make  new  resolutions,  and 
take  up  more  studies  than  were  desirable,  and  pur- 
sue them  for  a  few  days,  or  a  few  weeks,  as  the 
case  might  be,  when,  being  attracted  by  social  di- 
vertisements  or  other  outside  influences,  and  hav- 
ing an  abundance  of  money  at  his  control,  he  just 
as  often  relaxed  and  relaxed,  dropping  one  study 
after  another,  until,  again  and  again,  before  the 
close  of  the  term  of  ten  weeks,  he  found  himself 
with  one  study,  or  perhaps  out  of  all  his  classes. 
This  course  of  procedure  continued  for  almost  two 
years,  when  at  last,  he  came  to  himself,  and 
seemed  to  realize  that  he  had  accomplished  little 
for  himself  in  comparison  with  what  he  ought, 
and  that  his  preparation  for  life  was,  in  a  large 
measure,  defeated  by  his  want  of  persistence  and 
grit,  and  by  his  too-easily  yielding  to  this  fancy  or 
that.  At  the  beginning  of  the  third  year,  he 
made  a  firm  and  earnest  resolution  that  he  would 
retrieve  his  character,  and  hold  on  to  any  line  of 
conduct,  study  or  work  that  I  would  advise  him 
to  pursue.  He  never  again  failed  in  his  purpose, 
and  thaV  year,  his  third,  was  a  splendid  success. 
He  left  us,  as  I  believed,  a  man  who  would  accom- 
plish a  great  work  in  any  direction,  and  in  any 


352  REMINISCENCES. 

kind  of  business  in  which  he  should  engage.  I 
have  not  been  disappointed.  He  is  a  successful 
business  man,  and  manages,  independently  of  his 
father,  an  extensive  business  of  merchandise  and 
manufacture  combined.  The  third  son  left  us 
on  account  of  failing  health  before  his  business 
course  was  completed.  So  far  as  I  know,  however, 
he  is  a  worthy  and  successful  citizen,  engaged 
with  his  father,  managing  some  department  of  his 
business.  All  of  tfce  sons,  before  they  left  here, 
took  a  thorough  business  course  in  our  Business 
Department,  aside  from  other  studies  which,  in 
my  judgment,  would  make  them  more  intelligent 
and  efficient  business  men.  I  bring  up  this  ex- 
ample to  show  that  the  meager,  narrow  training 
given  by  most  commercial  colleges,  is  the  worst 
possible  preparation  for  a  successful  business  life. 
In  my  opinion,  to  enter  upon  the  immense  and 
intense  competition  now  raging  in  every  kind  of 
business,  a  young  man,  with  or  without  capital, 
needs  a  good  education  in  the  broad  sense,  thus 
feeling  himself  competent  to  meet  intelligent  men, 
and  to  hold  his  position  against  all  odds.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  preparation  for  business  which 
commercial  colleges,  so  far  as  I  know,  are  adver- 
tising, must  be  extended,  corrected,  and  for  the 
most  part  forgotten,  before  the  young  man  can  ob- 
tain any  paying  position,  even  as  an  employe  in 
any  business  of  any  considerable  extent  *  or  im- 
portance. 

During  the  time  that  these  young  gentlemen 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,   OHIO.  353 

were  here  in  training  for  their  business  life,  there 
came  a  man  from  one  of  the  Cincinnati  commercial 
colleges  to  Lebanon,  and  gave  a  lecture  in  the 
Town  Hall,  upon  the  especial  advantages  which 
he  declared,  would  follow  from  the  business  train- 
ing in  the  institution  of  which  he  was  the  propri- 
etor. A  farmer  boy  in  attendance  at  our  school, 
was  induced  by  the  representations  of  this  com- 
mercial college  man,  to  enter  there  at  the  close  of 
the  term  with  us.  How  long  he  continued  there 
and  what  he  studied,  I  am  not  able  to  say,  but 
some  nine  months  afterward  he  returned  to  Leba- 
non, and  reported  his  history  for  the  nine  months 
in  Cincinnati,  in  language  somewhat  like  this : 
"I  entered  the  commercial  college  a  few  days- 
after  I  left  Lebanon,  and  continued  there  until  I 
received  my  diploma.  My  expenses  in  cash — 
not  all,  of  course,  strictly  necessary — were  about 
$600;  but  when  I  received  my  diploma,  with  some 
others,  and  a  public  occasion  was  made  of  the 
conferring  of  diplomas,  I  imagined  that  my  fortune 
was  secured,  and  that  I  was.  then  ready  to  reap 
the  immediate  rewards  of  my  training.  I  received 
the  highest  praise  for  my  diligence  in  study  and 
for  the  mastery  of  all  that  was  taught  in  the  com- 
mercial college.  I  had  been  assured  by  the 
gentleman  in  his  lecture  in  Lebanon,  and  from 
time  to  time,  as  I  went  on  in  my  study,  that  I 
would  find  no  difficulty  in  securing  a  good  posi- 
tion immediately  upon  my  graduation  from  this 
commercial  college.  A  few  days  after  my  gradu- 
23 


354  REMINISCENCES. 

ation,  taking  my  diploma  in  its  case,  I  started  out 
on  Third  Street  to  find  a  position.  To  every  ap- 
plication that  I  made,  in  every  business-house, 
there  was  some  objection  presented,  or  some  diffi- 
culty raised,  or  some  doubt  expressed,  so  that  I 
failed  the  first  day  in  finding  a  place  for  work. 
On  the  second  day,  I  took  Fourth  Street  and  pur- 
sued a  similar  course,  and  somewhere  along  the 
line  of  application,  some  gentleman  kindly  told 
me  that  he  thought  if  I  would  leave  my  diploma 
at  home,  I  would  be  more  likely  to  get  a  position; 
but  so  long  as  I  made  the  diploma  the  ground  of 
my  recommendation,  he  presumed  that  I  would 
meet  with  very  little  encouragement.  I  had  pre- 
viously come  to  the  same  conclusion,  that  the  ob- 
jections and  doubts  must  arise  from  some  one 
cause  connected  with  my  personality.  The  next 
day,  I  started  out  without  my  diploma,  but  can- 
vassed other  streets,  went  to  other  business- 
houses.  The  difference  of  my  reception  was  at 
once  manifest.  Knowing  from  my  appearance 
that  I  was  a  country  boy,  I  was  met  with  confi- 
dence and  with  encouragement,  but  no  sufficient 
salary  was  offered  for  such  services  as  a  country 
boy  would  be  able  to  render  in  a  business-house 
in  a  city;  but  in  several  places,  I  was  assured  that 
if  I  would  commence  at  the  bottom  of  the  busi- 
ness and  work  up,  I  would,  in  the  course  of  time, 
obtain  a  good  position,  as  country  boys,  ignorant 
of  city  practices,  were  always  in  demand.  I  am 
now  in  the  employment  of  a  heavy  wholesale  es- 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO.       355 

tablishment,  at  wages  barely  sufficient  to  pay  my 
necessary  expenses,  but  I  am  encouraged  to  feel 
that  I  am  giving  satisfaction,  and  that  I  shall 
eventually  rise  to  a  higher  position,  and  make  my- 
self necessary  to  the  establishment.  At  least,  I 
am  making  every  effort  to  accomplish  this  end." 
A  few  months  ago,  I  was  met  in  the  streets  of 

Cincinnati  by  a  young  man,  Mr.  R ,  who  had 

graduated  in  our  Business  Department.  He  came 
to  me  with  great  cordiality,  and,  at  once,  after 
passing  the  compliments,  said:  "Mr.  Holbrook, 
do  you  remember  what  an  effort  you  made  with 
me  to  induce  me  to  extend  my  education  beyond 
grammar,  and  arithmetic,  and  book-keeping?" 
"I  do,  indeed,  Mr.  R ,  most  assuredly,  re- 
member all  about  it.  I  have  had  the  same  con- 
flict with  a  great  many  other  young  men,  endeav- 
oring to  elevate  and  broaden  their  views  as  to  a 
necessary  preparation  for  an  ordinary  business 
life.  The  narrowness  and  meagerness  of  business 
preparation  has  become  so  general,  through  the 
advertisements  and  practices  of  commercial  col- 
leges, that  I  feel  it  necessary,  whenever  I  have 
opportunity,  and  I  have  had  hundreds  of  cases  to 
deal  with, — I  feel  it  necessary  to  prevent  young 
men  from  making  unworthy  wrecks  of  worthy 
powers  and  opportunities."  "But,"  said  he, 
"do  you  remember  how  you  urged  upon  me  the 
necessity  of  studying  English  composition,  so 
that  I  should  be  able  to  write  a  good  adver- 
tisement, and  a  good  business  article  for  a  news- 


REMINISCENCES. 

paper,  and  thus  become  competent  to  manage 
the  literary  work  of  a  large  business  establish- 
ment?" ''Most  certainly  I  do,  sir;  I  have  done 
the  same  thing  with  hundreds  of  others;  with 
some  I  have  prevailed,  with  others  I  have  not." 
"But,"  said  he,  "it  was  that  training  in  English 
composition,  and  in  English  literature,  upon 
which  you  insisted,  and  which  I  for  a  time  re- 
sisted, that  has  been  the  making  of  me.  I  am 
now  engaged  as  chief  and  confidential  clerk  in  a 
large  manufacturing  establishment.  The  corre- 
spondence, the  advertising,  and  the  literary  work 
of  the  firm  is  all  done  by  myself;  and  I  have  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  business,  through 
my  literary  power  thus  exercised,  is  rapidly  ex- 
tending, and  that  I  am  become,  as  it  were,  a 
necessary,  at  least,  a  very  useful,  part  of  the 
establishment.  I  commenced  with  a  small  salary, 
but  it  has  been  gradually  increased,  until  now  I 
am  receiving  $100  per  month,  with  some  perqui- 
sites in  percentages  on  sales,  and  I  have  the 
promise  of  still  further  advance  in  salary  and  in 
position,  and  I  hope  to  be  admitted  before  an- 
other year  into  partnership  in  the  business;  for  all 
of  which  I  have  to  thank  you,  Mr.  Holbrook,  for 
persuading  me  to  go  beyond  my  very  limited 
ideas  of  a  business  education.  My  book-keeping 
I  have  never  used,  that  is,  in  the  way  of  keeping 
books,  although  the  books  of  the  establishment 
come  daily  under  my  supervision.  But  my  liter- 
ary power  has  been  the  means  of  my  rapid  ad- 


EXPERIENCES  IN  LEBANON,  OHIO. 

vancement  and  complete  success,  far  beyond  my 

brightest   expectations."      "Mr."  R ,   I   shall 

make  use  of  this  statement  of  yours  as  an  en- 
couragement to  other  young  men,  who  seem  to 
feel  satisfied,  coming  to  our  school,  if  they  can 
learn  to  keep  a  set  of  books."  "I  hope  you  will 
do  so,  sir;  you  are  welcome  to  make  any  use  of 
my  success  that  you  may  desire." 

Now,  it  is  not  true  that  every  one  who  has  com- 
pleted a  thorough  Business  Course  at  this  Institu- 
tion has  met  with  the  success  of  Mr.  R .  But 

it  is  at  the  same  time  manifest,  that  every  one  who 
has  had  this  broader  and  deeper  training  than  any 
commercial  college  can  possibly  give,  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  being  able  to  enter  any  such  opening 
that  may  occur.  Yes,  this  literary  training,  in 
addition  to  the  mathematical  and  business  training 
proper,  is  immeasurably  more  effective  and  useful, 
and  will  prepare  any  young  man  to  enter  any  busi- 
ness house,  and  apprehend  more  readily  the  great 
variety  of  business  operations  involved  in  such  an 
establishment,  than  any  possible  training  which  he 
could  secure  in  the  miserable  shams,  pretensions, 
and  operations  of  " actual  business,"  advertised 
with  such  persistency,  and  urged  with  such  assur- 
ances, and  which  seem  for  the  time  to  draw  into 
the  meshes  of  those  commercial  colleges  so  many 
of  the  weaker  sort  of  untrained,  callow,  and  rustic 
youth. 


358  CONTENTS. 

(Contents  continued  from  p.  6.) 
CHAPTER  XII. 

EXPERIENCES  AT   KIRTLAND. 

Rev.  Truman  Coe — A  self-made  man — Travels — A  lady  lec- 
turer's triumph  —  John  B.  Cough's  victory  —  Prof.  O.  M. 
Mitchell  relates  an  incident  of  triumph  over  Harvard  professors — 
New  Orleans — Conversation — Northern  and  Southern  views  com- 
pared— Catholics  evade  the  priest's  control — A  queer  story — 
Attacked  with  cholera — Narrow  escape  with  my  life — Incidents 
of  travel — Jenny  Lind's  power — One  effect  of  enthusiastic  teach- 
ing— A  lesson  in  teaching  arithmetic — An  arithmetical  contest 
— Withdrawal  from  Kirtland — Mormons — Incidents  of  overland 
travel  in  1838 — Tornado— The  last  of  the  wolves  in  the  West- 
ern Reserve. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

MARLBOROUGH   EXPERIENCES. 

The  question  of  the  Bible  in  a  public  school  settled — How  I 
managed  the  janitoring — An  infidel's  views  on  the  Bible — How 
dancing  parties  were  managed — Scientific  Institute  held — Prof. 
Harvey  and  Mr.  Loren  Andrews  employed  as  lecturers — 
Spirit  manifestations  —  Mr.  Harvey  and  tobacco  —  John  A. 
Norris;  how  he  accomplished  a  six  years'  college  course  in 
two  and  a  half  years — Story  of  a  tramp — Removal  to  Salem  at 
salary  of  $1,200 — Narrow  escape. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

REMINISCENCES   IN   SALEM. 

Successful  experimenting  in  school  superintendency  —  A 
variety  of  difficulties  overcome — How  the  subordinate  teachers 
were  won — A  privileged  character  managed. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

EXPERIENCES  WHILE  IN  LEBANON. 

HOW  I  came  to  live  in  Lebanon. — Invited  to  attend  Teachers' 
Institute  in  Oxford  to  lecture  on  Teaching  and  School  Manage- 
ment— Appointed  a  committee  to  draft  a  constitution  for  a 


CONTENTS.  359 

Normal  School  Association — Lebanon  selected  as  a  site  of  the 
Normal  School — Conditions  offered — Many  unoccupied  buildings 
— A  favorable  fact — Completed  my  year  in  Salem — Came  to 
Lebanon  to  make  preparations — Joint  meeting  of  Trustees  of 
Lebanon  Academy  and  Normal  Association — Family  still  in 
Salem — Mrs.  H.  packs  goods  and  moves  the  family — Established 
in  Lebanon — Repairs  in  the  Academy — No  help  from  Normal 
Trustees — Their  agent  takes  all  the  funds  he  collects — My  salary 
limited  to  $1,200,  but  all  to  be  made  by  myself — Trust  in  God — 
Demands  for  a  Normal  School  here — Public  school  teachers 
inimical  to  the  enterprise:  would  reduce  salaries — Arrival  of 
family — Misgivings  of  citizens  as  to  our  support,  arising  from 
failure  of  five  predecessors — Mr.  Suydam's  solicitude — My  ex- 
pectation not  to  secure  support  from  Lebanon,  but  to  build  up 
the  town — Hospitality  of  Lebanon  people. 

First  Year  of  School. — Opened  November  17,  1855 — Pupils 
100 — Model  School  in  charge  of  Mrs.  H. — Judge  Dunlevy's  as- 
sistance— Three  teachers  employed — Prof.  Henry  Venable  one 
of  foreign  pupils — Others  soon  sent  in  by  agent — Provision  for 
students  from  abroad — Vacant  rooms  rented — Fitted  up  by  self 
and  sons — Self-boarding  inexpensive — $5.00  board  in  town  pre- 
vented large  attendance — Farmers'  families  furnished  supplies 
for  their  children  in  attendance — Agent  sent  in  pupils,  but 
pocketed  the  funds. 

Summer  Institute. — Difficulties  of  obtaining  board  overcome 
— Failure  of  Lebanon  accommodations — Large  house  rented 
and  furnished  by  self— Purchase  and  invaluable  use  of  the  first 
sewing  machine  in  Lebanon — My  wife's  counsel,  sewing  and 
keeping  boarders — Success  of  Institute — $320.00  amount  re- 
ceived in  one  year  for  use  of  family — Conspiracy  of  Trustees  to 
dislodge  me,  and  give  my  work,  so  successfully  begun,  to  one 
of  their  own  number — Judge  Dunlevy's  interference  and  failure 
of  scheme. 

County  Examiners. — Dishonesty  of  County  Examiners  and 
schemes  of  county  officers — Attempt  to  sell  best  positions  in  the 
county  defeated — Similar  case  in  Chardon — General  abuse  of 
Examiners'  power — Their  evasion  of  the  law. 

Model  Schools. — Some  objections  to  system — Developed  by 


360  CONTENTS. 

actual  experience — Results  of  system — Pupils  must  relearn  the 
business  of  actual  class  management — Training  classes  the  sub- 
stitute, with  immeasurably  better  results.  Remark — M.  S.  are 
mechanical  and  destroy  original  enthusiastic  class  management. 
Suited  to  absolute  government  and  autocratic  management. 

Second  Year. — Opening  favorable — Attendance  from  town 
decreased — From  abroad  increased — Agent  and  opposing  Trus- 
tees withdrawn — Failure  of  unpaid  assistants  to  secure  salary 
from  Association — My  entire  responsibility  in  the  management 
of  Institution — New  Board  elected,  but  assumed  no  control  or 
financial  risk,  leaving  me  to  make  all  plans  and  to  reap  all  re- 
wards— Former  pupils  from  the  North  enter — Mr.  Reed  and 
Miss  Morris  teach  and  pursue  studies — Refusal  of  citizens  to 
rent  rooms  to  students — Further  difficulties  in  securing  board 
overcome. 

Conflict  with  County  Examiners  upon  the  subject  of  Gram- 
mar— Examiners  defeated  upon  grammatical  discussion. 

Normal  Methods  issued  quarterly  during  the  third  and  fourth 
years — Published  in  book  form  by  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co. — Wide  sales 
contributed  to  building  up  Institution — Larger  assembly  room 
secured — Rent  of  furnished  room  60  cents  per  week — Tuition 
raised  to  $10.00  a  term — Attendance  diminished  during  War — 
Two  eldest  sons  enlist — W.  D.  Henkle  resigns  the  Chair  of 
Mathematics  and  superintends  Union  School. 

First  Graduating  Class — 1864,  nine  graduates  in  Scientific 
Course — Business  Department  established — Full  College  or 
Classic  Course  introduced  in  1865 — Graduates,  seven  in  number, 
secure  positions — Tuition  raised  to  $1.00  per  week — Experience 
in  college  sustains  me  in  shortening  College  Course  from  six' 
years  to  two  and  a  half  years. 

The  Normal,  an  Educational  Monthly,  edited  by  R:  H.  Hoi- 
brook,  1866 — Buildings  purchased — Eureka  and  Deuterian  oc- 
cupied by  young  ladies  and  gentlemen — Management  of  rooms — 
Young  ladies  sustain  order — Wayward  boarding-school  girl  re- 
formed without  spies  and  coercion — Normal  and  College 
methods  of  teaching  Greek  compared — Forty  weeks  in  College 
not  equal  to  ten  weeks  at  the  Normal — Hard  case  disposed 
of  without  exciting  sympathy  of  pupils — Results  of  coer- 


CONTENTS.  36l 

cion  and  enthusiasm  compared — Absurdity  of  imposing  laws 
upon  the  large  majority  for  the  sake  of  restricting  the  few — No 
laws  result  in  increased  diligence— College  thoroughness  hate- 
ful; true  thoroughness  exciting— Love  of  work  an  essential 
qualification  of  the  true  teacher — Methods  of  training  assistant 
teachers— Independence  of  text-books— True  object-teaching 
methods— True  Normal  method  ever  improving  upon  itself— 
Several  improvements  enumerated  and  explained — Use  of  several 
text-books — General  use  of  library — Outlining  by  teachers,  by  pu- 
pils— Elaboration  and  discussion  of  Outlining  System — Results — 
Exhaustiveness  of  investigation  and  cogency  of  expression — 
Data  of  succeeding  years — Pupils  from  thirteen  States — Insti- 
tution changes  its  name — Purchase  of  five  new  buildings- 
Increased  boarding  facilities  furnished  by  citizens — Boarding 
clubs  established — Prices  of  board  and  rooms  controlled  by 
Institution — Cost  of  table  board  reduced  to  $1.00  and  $1.25  per 
week — Rooms  30  to  50  cents —Advantages  of  Normal  Course 
over  College  Course  stated — Reasons  for  frequent  change  of 
teachers — Year  1873 — 1,613  pupils — Library  arranged  in  ten  de- 
partments— Contained  2,000  volumes — Always  open  to  pupils — 
Competent  librarian  in  attendance — Best  study  done  here — First 
School  Exposition — Displays  of  cabinets,  apparatus,  herbariums, 
drawings,  etc.,  etc.,  prepared  by  pupils  in  charge — Ladies  best 
exhibitors — Cabinets  valued  at  $50.00  to  $500 — College  pro- 
fessor attends  the  school — His  inducements  for  coming — Success 
of  our  trained  teachers — Statement  of  his  opinions  published — 
Visit  of  College  President — His  plan  of  operation — His  inability 
to  adopt  our  methods — Mr.  Beckman  sent  to  America  by  Swed- 
ish Government  to  study  our  school  systems — Visits  us — Novel 
systems  of  management  appreciated — His  astonishment  at  the 
good  results  of  the  freedom  of  the  sexes — Exposition  of  our  plans 
of  government  and  instruction  made  in  a  Stockholm  paper  — 
Results. 

Management  of  Illness  in  School.— Pupils  nursed  at  our 
home — Plan  relinquished  for  numerous  reasons — Daily  prayer- 
meeting  assumes  responsibility  of  nursing- — Committees  ap- 
pointed— Services  volunteered — Friends  sent  for — Prevailing 
good  health — Few  deaths — Measles — Smallpox — Healthfulness 
of  locality. 


3^2  CONTENTS. 

Management  of  Wayward  Boys.— Expenditure  of  time  and 
money  compared  with  other  schools— Moral  influence  induces 
parents  to  send  us  unmanageable  boys — Not  a  reform  school — 
Healthful  influence  of  school  effective  or  otherwise — Worthy 
business  men  developed  from  the  recalcitrant  boys. 

Experiments  in  Physical  Training.— Physical  exercise  consid- 
ered a  necessity — Heavy  gymnastic  apparatus  a  failure — Light 
gymnastics  under  C.  S.  Royce — Base-ball  for  ladies  and  gentle- 
men— Croquet — Health-lift  by  C.  S.  Royce— Healthfulness  sus- 
tained by  judicious  arrangement  of  studies  and  walking  to  and 
from  classes — Under  this  management  one  year  here  equal  to 
three  at  College — No  " hot-bed"  process— A  fact  accomplished 
by  enthusiastic  work — Health  at  College  and  the  Normal  com- 
pared— Advantages  of  botanical  and  geological  excursions — Co- 
education conducive  to  health,  morality  and  interested  work. 

Business  Education.— Peculiar  features  of  a  true  business 
education — Developed  by  examples — Success  of  thoroughly  edu- 
cated business  men — Reform  of  wild  youth — Normal  business 
training  compared  with  the  shams  of  "actual  business"  and 
commercial  colleges — Experience  of  commercial  college  gradu- 
ate and  our  business  graduate  compared  by  actual  examples — 
Broad  education  necessary  to  highly  successful  business  man — 
Example — "Actual  business"  a  fraud. 


\     \ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


19  1948 


4CT 
REC'D  LD 

APR  2  7  '64  -IP 

INTER-LIBRAE 

LOAN 


LD  21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


JUN25197G  ~ 


., 

NOV.12  \ 


JAH  13 


001161970  00 


^EAnfli*  D6Pt 
10V  28190 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CDDMIMDSEM 


M83720 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


